LAS  CASAS 

"THE  APOSTLE  OF  THE  INDIES' 


N- 


• 


BARTHOLOAIE  DE  LAS  CASAS 


Frontispiece 


LAS  CASAS 

The  APOSTLE  of  the  INDIES 


BY 

ALICE  J.  KNIGHT 

11 

9BACOVBM  IB  TUB  FBOTBSTABT  BPISCOPAL  CHUBCH  Of  A1IBBICA 


THE  NEALE  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
440  FOURTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 


COPYRIGHT,  1917.  BY 
THE  NBALE  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 


c 


^ 


TO 
MY  FRIEND  AND  BISHOP, 

THE  RIGHT  REVEREND 
ROBERT  LEWIS  PADDOCK,  D.D, 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


PAGE 

FoKEWORD  .  .  .  .  .7 

CHAPTEB 

I  BARTOLOME  THE  YOUTH     .       .       .  9 

II  A  BIT  OF  HISTORY       ....  14 

in  A  NEW  WORLD 18 

IV  A  NEW  LIFE 28 

V  DISAPPOINTMENTS 36 

VI  THE  KNIGHTS  OF  THE  GOLDEN  SPUR  42 

VII  THE  PEARL  COAST      .       .       .       .48 

VIII  THE  CLOISTER 59 

IX  THE  LAND  OF  WAR     ....  64 

X  BISHOP  OF  CHIAPA       ....  72 

XI  KEVOLT  IN  CHIAPA       ....  83 

XH  AT  COURT  95 


FOREWORD 

EAELY  American  history  is  full  of  interest 
and  romance.  Great  figures  move  across  the 
scene.  Columbus,  Ponce  de  Leon,  Cortez,  Al- 
varado,  Pizarro, — every  schoolboy  is  familiar 
with  their  names  and  deeds.  But  one  man 
there  is  that  stands  out  conspicuously  among 
these  heroes  of  discovery  and  conquest,  one  not 
bent  on  fame  and  glory,  not  possessed  of  that 
greed  for  gold  that  led  to  so  much  ruthless 
cruelty  toward  the  natives  of  the  New  World, 
— a  man  consumed  with  one  burning  desire :  to 
spend  himself  in  the  service  of  others,  to  pro 
tect  and  save  the  weak  and  helpless.  What  he 
himself  might  suffer  in  the  performance  of  this 
work  mattered  not  at  all. 

Strange  that  to  so  many  even  the  name  of 
this  man  is  unknown !  Yet  for  more  than  fifty 
years  no  one  either  in  all  the  New  World  or 
in  Spain  was  more  prominently  before  the  eyes 
of  all  than  was  Las  Casas,  the  great  "Apostle 
of  the  Indies. "  Not  only  as  a  missionary,  but 
as  an  historian,  a  philanthropist,  a  man  of  busi 
ness,  a  ruler  in  the  Church,  he  towers  above 
even  the  notable  men  of  that  most  remarkable 
time.  His  noble,  self-denying,  heroic  life,  spent 

7 


:B  FOEEWOED 

in  untiring  service  to  God  and  man,  is  an  in 
spiration  and  an  example  much  needed  in  this 
materialistic,  money-getting,  ease-loving  age. 

ALICE  J.  KNIGHT. 

HOOD  EIVEB,  OBEGON. 

June,  1917. 


LAS  CASAS 

CHAPTER  I 

BABTOLOME    THE   YOUTH 

WHENEVER  we  hear  of  a  famous  man, — 
whether  he.be  artist,  author,  statesman,  soldier, 
scientist,  great  traveler,  or  missionary, — we 
like  to  know  what  sort  of  a  boy  he  was.  We 
are  curious  about  his  home,  his  school,  his 
parents,  his  friends,  and  all  the  various  influ 
ences  that  helped  to  make  him  the  man  he  was. 
Such  knowledge  gives  us  a  better  understand 
ing  of  his  after  life,  and  a  fuller  sympathy  with 
his  aims  and  achievements. 

Although  I  have  headed  this  chapter  "Bar- 
tolome  the  Youth, "  we  know  comparatively  lit 
tle  of  Las  Casas  until  he  was  about  twenty-eight 
years  old.  In  later  life  we  find  him  impetuous, 
loving,  tireless  in  energy,  with  a  fiery  temper 
that  blazed  out  in  quick  wrath  against  all  in 
justice  and  cruelty  toward  the  weak  and  help 
less,  possessing  a  brilliant  mind  and  great  tal 
ents,  never  giving  up  striving  against  the 
wrong,  and  never  knowing  when  he  was  beaten. 

9 


10  LAS  CASAS 

These  qualities  he  must  have  possessed  in  some 
measure  as  a  boy,  but,  unfortunately,  no  his 
torian  has  opened  up  for  us  those  early  pages. 

Bartolome  was  born  in  the  city  of  Seville, 
Spain,  in  the  year  1474.  We  are  not  told  the 
day  of  the  month.  Of  his  mother  we  know  noth 
ing,  but  his  father  was  Pedro  de  Casaus.  He 
was  of  French  descent,  but  the  family  had  lived 
in  Spain  for  over  two  hundred  years,  and  be 
cause  of  valuable  aid  given  to  one  of  the  Span 
ish  kings  in  the  wars  against  the  Moors,  they 
had  been  ennobled,  and  after  a  time  the  name 
lost  its  French  spelling  and  took  the  Spanish 
form,  Las  C^sas. 

Bartolome  certainly  lived  in  very  interesting 
times.  When  he  was  between  eighteen  and  nine 
teen  years  of  age  Columbus  came  to  Seville 
on  his  return  from  his  first  voyage,  which  re 
sulted  in  the  discovery  of  the  West  India 
Islands.  He  brought  with  him  many  strange 
and  wonderful  things, — birds  of  brilliant  color, 
such  as  had  never  been  seen  before,  gold  and 
pearls,  and,  most  wonderful  of  all,  six  Indians. 
We  can  imagine  the  crowds  of  people  who  must 
have  followed  that  little  procession  as  it  passed 
through  the  streets  of  the  city,  pushing  and 
crowding  one  another  to  get  a  sight  of  the 
great  Admiral  and  the  men  who  had  sailed 
with  him  over  unknown  waters,  and  especially 
of  the  painted  red  men,  who  were,  I  am  sure, 


BAETOLOME  THE  YOUTH  11 

quite  as  curious  on  their  part,  and  probably 
badly  frightened  besides. 

It  is  difficult  for  us  to  understand  now  how 
much  courage  it  took  in  those  times  to  put  to 
sea  in  frail  little  caravels,  which  were  all  the 
adventurer  had,  and  go  sailing  over  the  waste 
of  waters,  not  knowing  what  was  ahead  of  him, 
or  if  he  would  ever  find  land  on  the  other  side. 
The  rude  maps  of  that  day  still  showed  a  great 
Sea  of  Darkness.  Dragons  and  all  sorts  of 
frightful  sea-monsters  were  pictured  in  the  un 
explored  parts  of  the  ocean,  and  the  popular 
idea  was  that  if  the  daring  mariner  should 
sail  too  far  over  the  slope  of  the  round  globe, 
he  might  be  drawn  by  force  of  gravitation  into 
a  fiery  gulf  and  never  come  back  to  his  friends 
again.  So  the  men  that  thus  ventured  were 
heroes  in  the  eyes  of  the  people.  Never  had 
such  a  voyage  been  heard  of  as  the  great  Ad 
miral  had  made,  and  all,  from  the  King  and 
Queen  to  the  little  street  boys,  were  eager  to 
hear  about  it. 

Although  he  does  not  mention  it,  it  is  prob 
able  that  Las  Casas  often  saw  Columbus  in  his 
father's  house.  Pedro  de  Casas,  Bartolome's 
father,  and  his  uncle,  Francisco  de  Penalosa, 
both  went  out  with  the  Admiral  on  his  second 
voyage.  Columbus  had  then  been  made  Viceroy 
of  the,  Indies,  and  Bartolome's  father  was  on 
his  staff,  while  his  uncle  commanded  the 
soldiers.  One  of  the  Indians  that  Columbus 


12  LAS  CASAS 

brought  home  from  the  first  expedition  he  gave 
to  Pedro  de  Casas,  but  the  good  Queen  would 
not  allow  these  Indians  to  be  kept  as  slaves, 
and  insisted  that  they  should  be  sent  back  at 
once.  All  six  had  been  baptized  at  Barcelona, 
with  the  King  and  Queen, — Ferdinand  and  Isa 
bella, — as  godfather  and  godmother ;  and  when, 
soon  after  this,  one  of  them  died,  people  said 
he  was  the  first  Indian  to  go  to  Heaven. 

Bartolome's  uncle  remained  in  the  Indies  for 
three  years,  and  returning,  shortly  afterward 
died  in  battle  with  the  Moors.  His  father  did 
not  come  home  until  1500. 

While  his  father  and  uncle  were  away,  Bar- 
tolome  was  studying  at  the  famous  university 
of  Salamanca,  where  he  took  his  degree  as 
doctor  of  laws  just  previous  to  his  father's  re 
turn. 

Very  naturally,  now  that  his  education  was 
finished,  the  young  man's  thoughts  turned  to 
the  Indies.  He  seems  to  have  gone  out,  as  did  -; 
the  other  colonists,  with  the  idea  of  making 
money.  Wealth  and  power  appeared  very  de 
sirable  things  to  possess.  How  little  he 
dreamed  of  the  future  that  was  before  him! 
He  knew  not  that  the  time  was  coming  when 
he  should  give  up  all  that  he  had, — money, 
time,  strength,  and  talents, — for  the  sake  of 
the  great,  deathless  principles  of  liberty,  jus 
tice,  and  mercy.  All  unknowing,  he  was  to 
enter  a  fight  that  would  last  his  life  long  and 


BAETOLOME  THE  YOUTH          13 

cost  him  all  that  he  held  dear  while  struggling 
to  protect  the  gentle,  helpless  natives  of  the 
New  World  from  the  cruelty  and  oppression  of 
the  Spaniards,  until  he  should  come  to  be  called 
Las  Casas  "The  Protector  of  the  Indians. " 
He  had  marked  out  one  path  for  himself;  God 
was  to  point  out  to  him  quite  a  different  one. 
It  is  good  to  know  that  he  "was  not  disobedient 
to  the  heavenly  vision. " 


CHAPTER  II 

A  BIT  OF    HISTOBY 

WHEN  Columbus  returned  to  Spain  after  his 
first  voyage,  he  left  on  the  island  of  Hispaniola, 
now  called  Haiti,  a  little  colony  of  about  forty 
men. 

On  his  second  voyage  he  sailed  first  to  this 
same  place,  arriving  in  November,  late  at  night. 
A  salute  was  fired  to  let  the  settlers  know  that 
their  friends  had  returned,  but  no  answer  came, 
and  it  was  feared  that  something  was  wrong. 
Sure  enough,  when  the  voyagers  went  ashore 
in  the  morning  they  found  eleven  dead  bodies 
and  no  living  men.  The  fort  had  been  destroyed 
and  the  tools  and  provisions  were  gone. 

This  was  a  sad  welcome;  all  the  sadder  be 
cause  it  need  not  have  happened  but  for  the 
evil  doings  of  the  colonists.  After  the  depar 
ture  of  Columbus  they  had  soon  quarreled 
among  themselves  and  had  treated  the  inoffen 
sive  natives  so  cruelly  that,  unable  to  endure 
it,  they  had  risen  against  the  Spaniards  and 
killed  them  all. 

Columbus  at  once  went  to  work  to  build  an 
other  little  town,  not  far  from  the  first,  and 

14 


A  BIT  OF  HISTORY  15 

called  it  Isabella.  A  church  was  erected,  a 
number  of  houses  built,  and  the  whole  sur 
rounded  by  a  strong  wall.  This  being  done, 
he  placed  his  brother  Diego  in  charge,  and 
started  off  with  three  ships  to  make  further 
explorations. 

On  this  voyage  he  coasted  along  the  south 
ern  shore  of  Cuba,  discovered  Jamaica  and  a 
number  of  smaller  islands,  and  sailed  all  around 
Hispaniola.  But  he  was  worn  out  with  excite 
ment  and  fatigue.  Discovering  new  countries 
is  hard  work,  and  it  is  still  harder  to  try  to 
govern  unruly  and  evil  men.  He  became  very 
ill,  and  was  brought  back  to  Isabella  quite  un 
conscious.  When  at  length  he  came  to  himself 
he  found  his  brother  Bartholomew  beside  him. 
This  was  a  great  comfort,  for  the  brothers  were 
very  fond  of  each  other,  and  Columbus  needed 
all  the  help  he  could  get.  He  made  Bartholo 
mew  governor  of  Hispaniola,  but  no  governor 
could  do  very  much  with  such  a  company  of 
lawless  adventurers  as  were  these  Spaniards. 
Like  a  great  many  people  of  to-day,  they  wanted 
to  get  rich  quickly  and  without  working.  They 
spent  their  time  in  fighting,  roaming  about  the 
country,  abusing  the  Indians,  and  killing  them 
and  one  another.  At  length  the  natives,  ex 
asperated  beyond  endurance,  rose  against  them 
as  before,  and  many  Spaniards  lost  their  lives. 

In  the  end,  however,  of  course  it  was  the 
Indians  that  suffered  the  most.  They  could 


16  LAS  CASAS 

not  stand  against  the  white  men.  Their  bows 
and  arrows  would  not  pierce  the  soldiers' 
armor,  and  they  ran  in  terror  from  the  sight 
of  a  horse,  an  animal  that  they  had  never  seen 
before.  Twenty  great  bloodhounds  were  let 
loose  upon  them  also,  which  tore  them  in  pieces ; 
and  at  length,  in  despair,  they  submitted  to 
their  enslavers. 

They  were  used  as  slaves  by  the  white  men, 
being  forced  to  cultivate  the  land  for  their 
conquerors  and  to  work  in  the  gold  mines.  The 
poor  creatures,  whose  lives  had  been  so  simple 
as  to  require  no  hard  labor,  died  by  the  thou 
sands,  and  many  were  whipped  to  death  or 
killed  outright,  so  that  in  a  little  while  that 
beautiful  island  became  a  place  of  great  suffer 
ing,  and  the  Spaniards  were  feared  and  hated 
by  those  gentle  natives,  who  at  their  coming 
had  been  ready  to  welcome  them  as  friends. 

Many  of  the  colonists  grew  dissatisfied  be 
cause  they  were  not  getting  rich  as  fast  as 
they  wished,  and  some  returned  to  Spain  with 
complaints  of  Columbus.  Finally  Francisco 
Bobadilla  was  sent  out  to  look  into  matters.  He 
treated  the  great  Admiral  very  unjustly  and 
cruelly,  sending  him  back  to  Spain  in  chains; 
but  in  this  action  he  far  exceeded  his  instruc 
tions.  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  grieved  for 
the  indignity  that  had  been  put  upon  the  man 
who  had  given  them  a  new  country,  caused  him 
to  be  released  at  once,  and  recalled  Bobadilla. 


A  BIT  OF  HISTORY  17 

Nicholas  de  Ovando  was  now  appointed  to 
rale  Hispaniola,  and  it  was  with  him  that  Las 
Casas  went  out,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  next 
chapter. 


CHAPTER  III 

A    NEW    WOELD 

WHEN  Las  Casas  arrived  in  Hispaniola  with 
Ovando,  the  new  governor,  they  were  greeted 
by  the  news  that  a  huge  nugget  of  gold  had 
been  found,  weighing  thirty-five  pounds.  It  was 
shaped  like  a  flat  dish,  and  to  celebrate  the  dis 
covery  of  such  a  treasure,  a  banquet  was  given 
and  a  roast  pig  served  up  on  this  novel  plat 
ter.  The  nugget  was  sent  to  Spain,  as  a  present 
to  King  Ferdinand,  on  the  same  ship  as  the 
infamous  Bobadilla,  the  deposed  governor,  but 
the  ship  was  wrecked  in  a  terrible  storm  soon 
after  leaving  port,  and  both  the  nugget  and 
the  governor  went  down  into  the  depths  of  the 
ocean. 

Las  Casas  and  his  companion  also  heard  that 
there  had  been  another  uprising  of  the  Indians 
and  that  many  had  been  captured  and  made 
slaves. 

Queen  Isabella  had  instructed  Ovando  that 
the  Indians  must  be  free,  only  paying  tribute, 
as  all  Spanish  subjects  did,  and  that  they  should 
be  recompensed  for  the  work  they  did  in  the 
mines.  The  good  Queen  little  knew  how  far 

18 


A  NEW  WORLD  19 

her  officers  were  from  treating  them  as  she  had 
commanded. 

^  Las    CaSfl 


particular  pity  for  the  Indians  in  the  begin 
ning.  Like  the  rest  of  the  adventurers,  he  had 
come  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  New  World, 
where  there  seemed  such  wonderful  chances  to 
grow  rich.  He  obtained  from  the  governor  an 
estate  of  his  own,  took  Indians  as  slaves,  and 
sent  some  of  them  to  work  in  the  mines,  though 
he  did  not  abuse  nor  overwork  them,  as  others 
did.  For  eight  years  he  not  only  held  Indians 
as  slaves,  but  he  was  with  Ovando  during  a 
second  war  against  the  natives  in  one  of  the 
provinces  of  Hispaniola,  and  saw  terrible  deeds 
of  cruelty,  yet  never  appears  to  have  made  a 
single  protest.  This  seems  very  strange  when 
we  think  of  what  he  said  and  did  against  slav 
ery  a  few  years  later,  and  how  his  whole  after 
life  was  spent  in  the  service  of  these  oppressed 
people.  His  eyes,  however,  were  not  yet  opened, 
and  he  looked  at  things  after  the  fashion  of  his 
time. 

Ovando  was  a  good  governor,  Las  Casas  says, 
"but  not  for  Indians.  "  He  was  a  little,  fair- 
haired  man,  gentle  in  manner,  and  most  polite, 
but  he  made  everybody  understand  that  he  in 
tended  to  be  obeyed.  When  any  gentleman  be 
came  troublesome,  Ovando  would  invite  him  to 
dine  with  him,  talk  so  pleasantly  and  flatteringly 
to  his  guest  that  he  would  think  the  governor 


20  LAS  CASAS 

must  mean  to  do  something  very  grand  for  him, 
and  then,  suddenly  pointing  down  the  harbor, 
would  ask  in  which  of  the  ships  lying  at  anchor 
the  gentleman  would  like  to  take  passage  for 
Spain.  ^The  poor  man,  confused  and  alarmed, 
yet  afraid  to  protest,  would  very  likely  say  that 
he  had  no  money  to  pay  his  fare.  Whereupon 
the  very  polite  little  governor  would  at  once 
tell  him  not  to  let  that  trouble  him,  as  he, 
Ovando,  would  provide  the  funds.  And  off 
the  gentleman  would  have  to  go  from  the  din 
ner  table  to  the  ship. 

But  although  Ovando  ruled  the  white  men 
well,  he  was  neither  just  nor  kind  to  the  In 
dians.  He  gave  them  out  in  lots  of  fifty,  or  a 
hundred,  or  five  hundred,  to  those  who  wanted 
them,  and  the  poor  creatures  were  worked  to 
death  and  abused  without  mercy.  When,  in 
desperation,  they  would  rise  against  their 
tyrants,  they  were  punished  savagely,  being 
burned  alive,  torn  to  pieces  by  bloodhounds, 
and  drowned  in  the  ocean  or  the  rivers,  even 
helpless  little  children  often  being  treated  in 
this  way. 

'In  1510  four  Dominican  friars  came  over  to 
Hispaniola  and  settled  in  San  Domingo./  The 
Sunday  after  their  arrival  one  of  them 
preached  a  sermon  on  the  glories  of  heaven, — 
a  discourse  that  Las  Casas  heard,  and  one  that 
made  a  great  impression  on  him.'  In  the  after 
noon  the  Prior  asked  to  have  the  Indians  sent 


A  NEW  WOKLD  21 

to  the  church  to  be  taught ;  so  they  came, — men, 
women,  and  children;  and  this  custom  the 
Dominicans  continued  every  Sunday  afterward. 

Some  time  in  this  same  year  Las  Casas  was 
ordained  priest.  We  should  like  to  know  how 
he  came  to  take  this  step,  but  he  tells  us  noth 
ing  about  it.  He  threw  himself  into  his  new 
duties  with  the  same  energy  that  he  had  used 
in  his  business,  and  began  at  once  to  teach  the 
Indians,  as  the  Dominicans  were  doing.  What 
ever  he  did,  all  his  life  long,  he  did  with  all 
his  might,  and  very  soon  he  became  famous 
all  over  the  island  for  his  learning  and  good 
ness. 

The  little  settlement  of  four  Dominicans  had 
increased  by  the  end  of  the  next  year  to  twelve ; 
nor  had  they  been  there  many  months  before 
they  began  to  have  their  eyes  opened  to  the 
wrongs  the  Indians  were  suffering  at  the  hands 
of  the  white  men. 

A  Spaniard  who  had  killed  his  wife  in  a  fit 
of  jealousy  and  had  been  hiding  for  two  or 
three  years,  repenting  of  his  crime  and  tired 
of  living  in  concealment  and  fear,  came  to  the 
Dominicans  by  night  and  begged  them  to  take 
him  in  and  let  him  stay  with  them  as  a  lay 
brother.  When  they  were  convinced  that  the 
man  was  truly  repentant  they  received  him. 
He  told  them  of  the  dreadful  cruelties  of  which 
he  and  others  had  been  guilty  toward  the  na 
tives,  and  the  good  fathers  soon  felt  that  they 


22  LAS  CASAS 

must  look  into  the  matter.  This  they  did,  and 
were  not  long  in  coming  to  the  conclusion  that 
it  was  a  great  evil  to  make  slaves  of  the  Indians 
and  that  they  must  do  something  to  put  a  stop 
to  it.  So  they  fasted  and  prayed,  and  con 
ferred  together,  and  finally  decided  that  one 
of  their  number,  Father  Antonio  Montesino, 
should  preach  a  sermon  on  the  subject. 

The  week  before  the  sermon  was  to  be 
preached  all  the  Dominicans  went  throughout 
the  town  and  invited  every  one,  from  the  gov 
ernor  down  to  the  humblest  citizen,  to  come  to 
the  church  on  the  following  Sunday,  which  was 
the  First  Sunday  in  Advent,  to  hear  the  ser 
mon,  which,  they  said,  would  be  upon  a  new 
subject,  interesting  to  all  of  them. 

Of  course  every  one  was  curious  to  hear  what 
would  be  said,  and  when  Sunday  came  the 
church  was  crowded.  There  was  the  governor, 
Diego  Columbus,  in  his  pew,  with  his  wife, — a 
grand-niece  of  King  Ferdinand, — and  there 
were  the  officers  of  the  colony,  all  the  prominent 
citizens,  in  fact,  everybody  in  the  town.  Father 
Montesino  preached  from  the  text:  I  am  "the 
voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness. " 

He  told  the  congregation  that  they  were  liv 
ing  in  mortal  sin  because  of  their  cruelty  and 
their  tyranny  over  the  innocent  natives.  He 
told  them  plainly  that  by  their  oppression,  their 
cruel  tortures,  and  the  forced  labor  in  the  mines 
to  which  they  subjected  these  helpless  people, 


A  NEW  WOELD  23 

they  were  killing  the  whole  race,  and  he  de 
clared  that  they  had  no  chance  of  salvation 
while  they  continued  in  such  sin. 

You  may  be  sure  that  Father  Montesino 's 
hearers  were  both  frightened  and  angry  at  this 
bold  sermon.  All  honor  to  the  brave  man  who 
dared  to  preach  it  and  to  the  little  company  of 
his  brethren  who  stood  with  him!  It  was  the 
first  voice  raised  in  the  new  world  against 
slavery. 

That  afternoon  the  citizens  had  a  meeting 
at  the  governor's  house  and  appointed  a  com 
mittee  to  visit  and  rebuke  the  preacher.  How 
ever,  this  accomplished  nothing,  as  neither 
Father  Montesino,  the  Prior  of  the  little  com 
munity,  nor  any  of  the  brotherhood  was  at  all 
moved  by  their  threats,  and  all  they  obtained 
from  the  Dominicans  was  an  agreement  that 
Father  Montesino  should  preach  again  the  next 
Sunday  and  endeavor  to  please  his  congrega 
tion  as  far  as  his  conscience  would  permit. 

The  committee  told  everybody  that  the  Father 
was  going  to  retract,  and  again  the  next  Sunday 
the  church  was  crowded  to  hear  Montesino  eat 
his  own  words.  But,  instead  of  the  humble  apol 
ogy  that  was  expected,  his  auditors  received  a 
more  terrible  rebuke  than  before,  Montesino 
threatening  them  with  eternal  torments  if  they 
continued  to  illtreat  the  Indians,  or  engage  in 
the  slave  trade. 

Angry  as  the   Spaniards  were,  they  could 


24  LAS  CASAS 

do  nothing,  for  the  good  fathers  minded  their 
blustering  and  threats  not  at  all.  Las  Casas 
was  partly  in  sympathy  with  the  Dominicans, 
but  he  thought  they  went  too  far.  He  believed 
the  Indians  should  be  treated  kindly,  but  saw  no 
harm  in  slavery;  for  all  that,  however,  he  did 
not  forget  the  sermon. 

The  next  year  Diego  Columbus  decided  to 
conquer  the  island  of  Cuba,  and  he  appointed 
Diego  Valasquez,  one  of  the  most  respected 
colonists  in  San  Domingo,  commander  of  the 
expedition.  Valasquez  was  a  warm  friend  of 
Las  Casas',  and  after  a  time  sent  for  him  to 
act  as  his  chaplain. 

This  war  against  the  helpless  and  innocent 
natives  was  as  cruel  as  all  the  others.  They 
were  chased  and  torn  to  pieces  by  bloodhounds ; 
they  were  burned  alive;  their  hands  and  feet 
were  cut  off,  and  those  that  were  not  killed 
were  made  slaves.  Forced  to  work  beyond 
their  strength  in  the  gold  mines,  half  starved 
and  beaten,  their  lives  were  full  of  misery, 
without  a  gleam  of  hope,  and  in  despair  num 
bers  of  them, — sometimes  whole  villages  at  a 
time, — committed  suicide.  One  story  is  told 
that  makes  us  smile,  although  it  is  so  sad. 

A  whole  village  of  Indians  resolved  to  hang 
themselves  and  so  escape  their  sufferings.  In 
some  way  their  master  learned  of  their  inten 
tion  and  came  upon  them  just  as  they  stood 
ready  to  carry  it  out. 


A  NEW  WOELD  25 

"Go  get  me  a  rope,  too,"  he  said  to  them; 
"for  I  must  hang  myself  with  you."  He  told 
them  they  were  so  useful  to  him  that  he  must 
go  where  they  were  going,  so  that  they  might 
still  labor  for  him.  They,  believing  that  they 
could  not  free  themselves  from  him  even  in  the 
future  life,  sadly  gave  up  their  plan,  and  went 
to  work  again. 

Las  Casas  did  all  he  could  to  protect  the 
Indians,  and  soon  became  known  as  their  friend, 
and  won  their  entire  trust.  They  called  him 
'  *  Behique, ' '  which  was  the  name  they  gave  their 
magicians,  and  regarded  him  with  awe.  As  the 
natives  had  no  written  language,  the  way  in 
which  the  Spaniards  conveyed  information  to 
one  another  by  means  of  mysterious  marks  on 
paper  seemed  a  kind  of  magic  to  them.  When 
the  expedition  was  approaching  a  town,  Las 
Casas  would  send  a  messenger  in  advance,  car 
rying  a  paper  scrawled  all  over  and  hidden  in  a 
hollow  reed.  The  messenger  would  show  the 
paper  to  the  Indians  and  tell  them  that  the 
Christians  were  coming  and  the  father  wanted 
them  to  furnish  so  many  huts  for  them  to  sleep 
in,  so  much  food  for  them  to  eat,  and  so  on, 
adding:  "If  you  do  not,  Behique  will  be  mucli 
displeased."  So  great  was  their  confidence  in 
him  that  they  would  at  once  obey  his  commands, 
which  they  believed  the  messenger  had  read 
from  the  paper,  and  in  this  way  Las  Cas$s  Was: 


26  LAS  CASAS 

able  to  save  them  from  the  dreadful  massacres 
that  had  so  often  wiped  out  whole  villages. 

But  one  day  a  terrible  thing  occurred. 
Valasquez  had  gone  away  to  be  married  and  had 
appointed  a  Spaniard,  named  Pamfilo  de  Nar- 
vaez,  commander  in  his  absence.  The  soldiers, 
— about  three  hundred  in  number, — drew  near  a 
village  called  Caonao,  and  stopped  to  eat  in  the 
dry  bed  of  a  river,  where  there  were  a  great 
many  stones  on  which  they  sharpened  their 
swords.  When,  at  length,  they  entered  the 
town  some  two  thousand  natives  were  gathered 
together,  all  sitting  peacefully  on  the  ground 
to  look  at  the  wonderful  strangers  and  espe 
cially  to  see  the  horses,  at  which  they  were 
never  tired  of  gazing.  About  five  hundred  oth 
ers  were  busy  in  one  of  the  huts,  preparing  food 
for  the  Spaniards,  as  Las  Casas  had  told  them 
to  do.  Suddenly  one  of  the  soldiers  drew  his 
sword, — why,  nobody  ever  knew, — and  began 
slashing  right  and  left  at  the  defenseless  In 
dians.  Instantly  the  others  followed  his  ex 
ample,  and  before  half  of  the  Indians  had  real 
ized  what  was  happening,  the  place  was  piled 
with  dead  bodies.  Las  Casas,  who  was  not 
present  at  the  moment,  hearing  what  was  go 
ing  on,  in  a  white  heat  of  rage  rushed  out  into 
the  square  to  stop  the  slaughter ;  but  before  he 
succeeded  in  doing  this  many  hundred  helpless 
men,  women,  and  children  had  been  butchered. 

Not  long  after  this  dreadful  event  Valasquez 


A  NEW  WORLD  27 

returned  to  Cuba,  and,  the  whole  island  being 
now  subdued,  he  proceeded  to  found  a  number 
of  towns  and  to  divide  the  land  and  the  Indians 
among  the  Spaniards.  Las  Casas  and  a  dear 
friend  of  his,  Pedro  de  Renteria,  who  had  lived 
near  him  in  Hispaniola,  received  together  a 
whole  village  of  Indians,  and  with  them  the 
land  they  had  owned, — some  of  this  land  being 
the  very  best  on  the  island. 

Eenteria  was  a  quiet,  thoughtful,  unworldly 
man,  humble  and  plain  in  his  ways,  though  of 
considerable  learning.  Las  Casas  seems  to  have 
been  very  fond  of  him,  though  he  tells  us  but 
little  about  him. 

The  two  friends  soon  had  a  large  house  built, 
in  which  they  lived  happily  for  a  year,  using 
the  enslaved  Indians  to  cultivate  the  plantation 
and  work  the  mines ;  for  as  yet  neither  of  them 
had  a  thought  that  it  was  wrong  to  hold  slaves, 
and  believed  that  they  were  doing  their  duty 
to  these  natives  by  being  kind  to  them  and  care 
fully  instructing  them  in  the  truths  of  Chris 
tianity. 


CHAPTEE  IV 

A   NEW   LIFE 

LAS  CASAS  was  the  only  priest  on  the  island 
of  Cuba,  and  at  Pentecost  (Whitsunday)  he  ar 
ranged  to  go  and  preach  and  say  mass  in  the 
new  town  of  Sancti  Spiritus.  In  looking  for 
a  text,  he  came  across  some  verses  in  the 
Apocryphal  book  of  Ecclesiasticus,  which  made 
him  stop  and  think  whether  after  all  he  was 
right  in  making  the  Indians  work  for  him  as 
slaves.  These  are  the  verses: 

He  that  sacrificeth  of  a  thing  wrongfully  gotten,  his  offering 
is  ridiculous,  and  the  gifts  of  unjust  men  are  not  accepted. 

The  Most  High  is  not  pleased  with  the  offerings  of  the 
wicked,  neither  is  He  pacified  for  sin  by  the  multitude  of  sac 
rifices. 

Whoso  bringeth  an  offering  of  the  goods  of  the  poor  doeth 
as  one  that  killeth  the  son  before  the  father 's  eyes. 

The  bread  of  the  needy  is  their  life ;  he  that  def raudeth J;hem 
thereof  is  a  man  of  blood. 

He  that  taketh  away  his  neighbor's  living  slaveth  him,  and 
he  that  defraudeth  the  laborer  of  his  hire  is  a  bloodshedder. 

As  Las  Casas  read  these  verses  he  seemed  to 
hear  the  voice  of  God  speaking  to  his  heart.  He 
remembered  Montesino  's  sermon,  he  thought  of 
all  the  cruelties  and  injustices  from  which  the 
gentle,  helpless  Indians  suffered.  At  last  his 

28 


A  NEW  LIFE  29 

eyes  were  opened,  and  he  saw  plainly  that  it 
was  neither  right  to  take  the  lands  and  the 
property  of  the  natives  nor  to  hold  them  as 
slaves. 

£  For  Bartolome  Las  Casas  to  see  the  right 
was  always  to  do  it.  He  resolved  at  once  to 
give  up  his  own  Indians  and  to  preach  against 
enslaving  them.  He  knew  very  well  that  if 
he  did  this  they  might,  and  probably  would, 
fall  into  the  hands  of  those  who  would  not  treat 
them  so  kindly,  but  he  realized  that  he  could 
not  preach  to  others  against  slavery  while  he 
continued  to  possess  slaves  himself.  Therefore 
he  went  at  once  to  the  governor  and  told  him 
what  he  had  resolved  to  do.  The  governor  was 
very  much  astonished,  and  begged  Las  Casas  to 
consider  well  what  he  was  doing  and  at  least 
to  take  fifteen  days  to  think  it  over.  But  Las 
Casas  refused  to  take  even  one  day,  saying 
that  his  mind  was  made  up. 

Four  Dominicans,  who  had  been  sent  from 
Hispaniola  to  found  a  community,  arrived  in 
Cuba  about  this  time.  They  and  Las  Casas 
preached  constantly  and  earnestly  on  the 
sin  of  holding  the  natives  in  slavery;  but  al 
though  the  Spaniards  were  frightened,  they 
were  not  turned  from  their  evil  ways,  and  Las 
Casas  resolved  to  go  to  Spain  and  see  if  he 
could  not  so  present  the  matter  to  the  King 
that  the  wrhole  system  of  dividing  up  the  In 
dians  and  their  lands  among  the  white  men, 


30  LAS  CASAS 

to  be  their  property,  might  be  done  away  with. 

He  wrote  to  his  friend  and  partner  Renteria, 
telling  him  that  he  was  about  to  go  to  Spain 
on  a  very  important  mission,  which  he  was  sure 
would  give,  him  great  joy  when  he  heard  what  it 
was,  and  he  asked  him  to  hasten  home,  as  other 
wise  he  might  not  see  him,  it  being  necessary  to 
leave  at  once. 

Renteria  was  in  Jamaica,  where  he  had  gone 
to  buy  seed,  stock  and  so  on  for  their  farm. 
While  there  he  had  stayed  in  a  Franciscan  con 
vent  during  the  season  of  Lent,  and  had  given 
much  time  to  prayer  and  meditation.  For  a 
long  time  he  had  been  troubled  about  holding 
the  Indians  as  slaves,  but  he  had  thought  that 
if  he  and  his  partner  were  to  give  up  the  sav 
ages,  they  would  only  be  worse  off.  Now,  how 
ever,  as  he  thought  and  prayed,  a  plan  occurred 
to  him :  He  would  go  to  Spain  and  get  permis 
sion  to  found  schools,  where  the  Indian  chil 
dren  might  be  gathered  in  and  taught,  and  thus 
some  of  them  might  be  saved ;  for  he  saw  clearly 
that  if  things  kept  on  as  they  were,  it  would 
not  be  long  before  all  the  Indians  on  the  islands 
would  be  destroyed. 

As  soon  as  Renteria  received  Las  Casas'  let 
ter  he  hurried  home,  wondering  why  his  friend 
also  wanted  to  go  to  Spain,  and  eager  to  tell 
him  what  he  had  in  mind. 

Renteria  was  a  very  popular  man,  so  when 
he  landed,  not  only  Las  Casas  was  there  to 


A  NEW  LIFE  31 

meet  Mm  but  the  governor  and  many  other 
friends ;  therefore,  it  was  night  before  the  two 
partners  had  a  chance  to  talk  quietly  together. 
Then  each  listened  in  astonishment  to  the  plan 
of  the  other.  Finally  they  decided  that  as  the 
plan  of  Las  Casas  was  the  more  important,  and 
as  he  was  a  priest  and  of  a  noble  family  and 
could  therefore  more  easily  get  a  hearing  at 
court,  he  should  be  the  one  to  go.  They  sold 
everything  that  Eenteria  had  brought  from 
Jamaica, — even  the  farm  itself  being  disposed 
of, — in  order  to  raise  money  for  the  journey. 

Now,  while  the  two  friends  had  been  occupied 
with  these  thoughts  and  plans,  the  Dominicans 
had  been  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  they 
could  do  no  good  in  Cuba,  since  they  could  not 
help  the  Indians  and  the  Spaniards  would  not 
listen  to  them,  and  they  decided  to  send  one 
of  their  number  with  Las  Casas  to  San  Do 
mingo, — from  which  port  he  was  to  sail  for 
Spain, — for  the  purpose  of  asking  for  instruc 
tions  from  their  superior,  Pedro  de  Cordova. 
A  young  deacon  went  also,  and  all  three  soon 
started  on  their  journey.  The  Dominican,  how 
ever,  was  taken  ill  and  died  before  the  party 
reached  San  Domingo. 

Pedro  de  Cordova  sympathized  heartily  with 
Las  Casas,  though  warning  him  that  he  would 
meet  with  many  difficulties;  but  the  man  who 
is  afraid  to  undertake  a  thing  because  of  the 
difficulties  in  the  way  is  not  much  of  a  man, 


32  LAS  CASAS 

and  Las  Casas  was  only  the  more  determined 
to  keep  on.  The  Dominicans  were  very  poor 
and  had  never  been  able  to  finish  their  humble 
•monastery  building,  so  they  sent  Father  Monte- 
sino,  who  had  preached  the  famous  sermon 
against  slavery  the  year  after  their  coming  to 
Hispaniola,  with  Las  Casas  to  Spain,  that  he 
might  try  to  raise  the  money  needed;  and  in 
1515  they  sailed. 

As  soon  as  they  arrived  in  Seville,  Montesino 
introduced  Las  Casas  to  the  good  bishop  of 
Seville,  who  did  all  he  could  to  help  him,  giving 
him  a  letter  to  the  King  and  to  others  of  the 
court  that  might  in  all  probability  be  interested. 

It  would  be  too  long  a  story  to  tell, — the 
chronicle  of  all  that  Las  Casas  went  through 
in  his  struggles  to  right  the  wrongs  of  the 
Indians. 

Queen  Isabella  was  now  dead,  and  while  he 
was  in  Spain  King  Ferdinand  died  also. 
Charles  V,  grandson  of  Ferdinand,  was  the  heir 
to  the  throne,  and  during  his  minority  the  great 
Cardinal  Ximenes  acted  as  regent,  while 
Charles'  tutor  Adrian  was  associated  with  the 
cardinal  in  the  government.  The  man  who  had 
most  to  do  with  the  affairs  of  the  Indians  was 
the  Bishop  of  Burgos,  Fonseca,  As  he  himself 
had  hundreds  of  slaves  working  for  him  in 
the  gold  mines  of  the  islands,  he  was  naturally 
not  at  all  in  favor  of  freeing  them,  and  there 
were  many  like  him  who  were  striving  as  hard 


A  NEW  LIFE  33 

to  prevent  the  liberation  of  the  Indians  as  Las 
Casas  was  striving  to  bring  it  about. 

Among  other  attempts  that  were  made  to 
throw  obstacles  in  the  way  of  Las  Casas  was 
one  that  was  rather  amusing.  Cardinal 
Ximenes,  as  they  sat  in  council,  ordered  the  old 
laws  for  the  Indies  to  be  read.  The  clerk  who 
read  them,  coming  to  one  that  he  knew  his 
masters  were  not  obeying,  thought  to  shield 
them  and  hinder  Las  Casas  by  changing  the 
wording ;  but,  unfortunately  for  him,  Las  Casas 
knew  the  laws  by  heart,  and  he  cried  out : 

"The  law  says  no  such  thing!" 

The  clerk,  being  ordered  to  read  it  again, 
read  it  as  before,  when  again  Las  Casas  broke 
in: 

"The  law  says  no  such  thing !" 

A  third  time  the  clerk  was  made  to  read  it; 
a  third  time  he  persisted  in  his  own  way  of 
wording,  and  a  third  time  Las  Casas  inter 
rupted  by  saying: 

"That  law  says  no  such  thing!" 

The  Cardinal,  provoked  by  so  many  interrup 
tions,  rebuked  him,  when  he  exclaimed: 

"Your  lordship  may  order  my  head  to  be 
cut  off  if  what  the  clerk  reads  is  what  the  law 
says." 

And  snatching  the  book  from  the  clerk,  he 
proved  that  he  was  right.  We  cannot  help 
thinking  that  if  the  clerk  had  known  "the 
clerico,"  as  he  usually  calls  himself,  a  little  bet- 


34  LAS  CASAS 

ter,  he  would  not  have  dared  to  try  such  a 
trick. 

In  spite  of  all  obstacles,  however,  with  the 
help  of  the  Cardinal,  new  laws  were  finally 
passed  for  the  Indies.  By  these  laws  the 
Spaniards  were  forbidden  to  divide  the  Indians 
among  themselves  and  force  them  to  work  with 
out  reward. 

But  the  passing  of  the  laws  was  only  a  part 
of  the  business.  It  was  as  true  then  as  now 
that  good  laws  are  of  little  use  unless  there  be 
wise  and  good  men  to  enforce  them;  and  the 
question  now  arose  as  to  who  should  go  out  and 
put  a  stop  to  the  evil  system  that  had  caused  so 
much  misery  to  these  innocent  and  helpless  peo 
ple,  and  see  that  the  new  laws  were  obeyed.  In 
those  days  the  Church  had  great  power  over 
both  rulers  and  people,  and  so  it  was  not  so 
strange  as  it  would  be  in  these  days  that  the 
choice  should  have  fallen  on  three  monks  of 
the  order  of  St.  Jerome.  It  was  anything  but 
a  wise  choice,  however,  for  although  these 
monks  were  good  men,  they  were  unused  to 
any  life  but  that  of  the  convent,  had  had  no 
experience  in  statesmanship  and  were,  besides, 
rather  timid  of  spirit.  Before  they  sailed, 
the  enemies  of  Las  Casas  filled  their  minds 
with  distrust  of  him,  and  made  them  think  that 
things  in  the  islands  were  not  as  he  had  repre 
sented,  so  that  they  did  not  seem  likely  to  do 
much  good  in  their  new  office. 


A  NEW  LIFE  35 

However,  the  little  company  set  sail  at  last, 
the  three  monks  in  one  ship,  Las  Casas, — who 
had  been  given  the  official  title  of  "Protector 
of  the  Indians, "  with  charge  and  authority  to 
look  after  all  that  concerned  them, — in  another, 
and  Zuaco,  a  lawyer,  appointed  to  help  and  ad 
vise  them,  followed  a  little  later. 


CHAPTER  V 

DISAPPOINTMENTS 

i  THE  best  laid  plans  o*  mice  and  men  gang- 
aft  agley."    So  it  was  in  this  case. 

When  the  Jeronimite  fathers  arrived  in 
Hispaniola  they  failed  to  do  what  was  expected 
of  them.  They  did  something,  it  is  true;  for 
they  took  from  those  officers  of  the  court,  who 
were  not  living  in  the  Indies,  all  their  Indian 
slaves  and  tried  to  give  them  to  others  who 
would  treat  them  kindly;  but  they  did  not  set 
them  free,  neither  did  they  bring  the  judges 
to  trial  for  their  evil  deeds. 

The  clerico  was  of  course  very  indignant 
with  them,  and  we  may  be  sure  that  he  never 
gave  them  any  peace,  so  that  they  must  have 
learned  to  dread  the  very  sight  of  him.  He 
preached  constantly,  in  the  pulpit  and  on  the 
streets,  wherever  he  went,  that  the  Indians  must 
be  free ;  and  when  Zuaco  came,  the  two  brought 
charges  against  the  judges,  causing  them  to  be 
tried ;  but  we  do  not  know  whether  or  not  they 
were  punished.  Probably  not. 

We  must  not  be  too  hard  upon  the  monks, 
however.  It  was  no  easy  task  they  had  been 

36 


DISAPPOINTMENTS  37 

asked  to  perform.  What  Las  Casas  wanted 
them  to  do,  and  what  the  law  required  also,  was 
to  take  away  all  the  Indians  from  the  Spaniards 
and  set  them  free.  This  meant  to  ruin  the  own 
ers,  since  all  they  had  came  through  the  forced 
labor  of  the  natives.  The  monks  were  not  men 
of  the  determined  character  necessary  for  such 
an  act,  nor  were  they  endowed  with  the  courage 
to  face  the  storm  it  would  have  brought  about 
their  ears.  Few  men  are  like  the  clerico,  who 
was  afraid  of  nobody. 

Just  after  Las  Casas  reached  the  Indies  a 
man  named  Juan  Bono,  a  shipmaster,  arrived 
there  with  a  shipload  of  Indians,  whom  he  had 
kidnaped  in  the  island,  of  Trinidad.  He  him 
self  told  the  clerico  how  it  was  done. 

He  had  gone  to  the  island  with  sixty  men 
and  told  the  Indians  that  they  had  come  to  live 
with  them.  The  Indians  received  them  kindly, 
brought  them  food,  and,  as  Bono  said  himself, 
treated  them  like  brothers.  Bono  told  them 
that  the  white  men  would  like  a  large  house  to 
live  in,  and  the  Indians  at  once  went  to  work 
to  build  it  for  them.  When  it  was  nearly  done, 
Bono  invited  all  the  natives  to  come  and  see  it. 

Some  four  hundred  of  them  came,  all  un 
armed  and  quite  unsuspecting  and  happy. 
When  all  were  gathered  in  the  house,  the 
Spaniards  surrounded  it,  and  Bono  told  the 
Indians  that  they  must  give  themselves  up  or 
they  would  be  killed.  Some  of  them  tried  to 


38  LAS  CASAS 

run  away,  some  to  resist,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
the  swords  of  the  Spaniards  had  filled  the  place 
with  the  dead  and  dying.  One  hundred  and 
eighty  of  them  were  put  in  chains  and  taken  to 
the  ship.  x  About  a  hundred  shut  themselves  up 
in  another  house  and  tried  to  defend  themselves 
there,  but  the  Spaniards  set  fire  to  it  and  the 
natives  were  all  burned  alive. 

This  was  the  return  Bono  and  his  men  made 
to  the  innocent,  gentle  Indians,  who  had  been 
so  kind  to  them.  No  wonder  the  heart  of  the 
clerico  was  on  fire  with  indignation  when  he 
heard  the  story.  He  went  at  once  to  the  three 
fathers  and  told  them  the  dreadful  tale.  They 
listened,  but  did  nothing, — as  usual.  Not  one 
of  the  one  hundred  and  eighty  kidnaped  In 
dians  was  set  free,  and  neither  Bono  nor  any 
of  the  judges  who  had  sent  him  was  punished. 

One  day  a  priest  came  to  the  Protector  of 
the  Indians  to  tell  him  how  the  native  laborers 
in  the  mines  near  San  Domingo  were  abused. 
He  said  he  had  seen  them  lying  in  the  fields,  sick 
from  overwork,  covered  with  flies,  and  nobody 
cared  enough  to  give  them  food  or  drink;  but 
their  owners  allowed  them  to  lie  there  and  die 
in  this  way.  Las  Casas  took  him  by  the  hand 
and  led  him  to  the  fathers,  to  whom  he  repeated 
this  story;  but  they  only  tried  to  excuse  the 
cruelty  of  the  mine  owners. 

The  heart  of  the  clerico  burned  within  him 
as  he  saw  so  much  suffering  and  misery  about 


DISAPPOINTMENTS  39 

him  and  could  not  get  the  three  commissioners 
to  put  a  stop  to  it.  Something,  he  felt,  must 
be  done.  The  fathers  had  now  been  in  the 
islands  six  jnonths  and  things  were  no  better 
than  they  h^Teen  before  their  coming;  so  he 
resolved  to  go  again  to  Spain  and  seek  a  rem 
edy  for  this  state  of  things.  When  the  fathers 
heard  what  he  intended  to  do  they  were  much 
alarmed,  but  as  they  could  not  stop  him,  they 
sent  one  of  their  number  to  Spain  also,  to  speak 
on  their  behalf. 

For  some  time  there  had  been  on  the  island 
of  Hispaniola  a  number  of  Franciscans, — or 
1 '  Gray  Friars, "  as  they  were  sometimes  called 
because  of  the  color  of  their  robes,  just  as  the 
Dominicans  were  called  "  Black  Friars, "  be 
cause  they  wore  black  and  white.  Both  orders 
were  sworn  to  poverty,  and  both  did  splendid 
missionary  work  in  their  day.  The  Franciscans 
had  not  always  been  in  sympathy  with  Las 
Casas,  but  seem  now  to  have  been  as  anxious  as 
he  to  have  something  done  to  set  matters  right. 
Some  of  them  were  well  known  to  the  Grand 
Chancellor,  and  they  gave  the  clerico  letters  to 
that  official,  who  was  at  once  interested;  anr1 
as  Las  Casas  came  to  see  more  of  him,  the  two 
became  great  friends.  The  Chancellor  spoke 
to  the  King  about  the  matter,  and  the  King 
commanded  that  he  and  Las  Casas  should  con 
sult  together  and  find  a  remedy  for  the  evils 
of  the  Indies. 


40  LAS  CAS  AS 

The  plan  that  they  proposed  was  this : 

That  colonists  should  be  sent  out  at  the  ex 
pense  of  the  King  and  be  cared  for  until  they 
should  be  able  to  manage  for  themselves,  when 
they  should  begin  to  pay  tribute  to  the  crown. 
In  order  to  supply  laborers,  Las  Casas  sug 
gested  that  each  Spaniard  should  have  permis 
sion  to  import  twelve  negro  slaves.  This  he  did 
because  the  Indians  died  by  hundreds  from  the 
hard  labor  in  the  mines,  while  he  had  observed 
that  the  negroes  endured  it  much  better.  After 
ward  Las  Casas  confessed  with  sorrow  that  he 
had  done  wrong  in  this,  as  it  was  no  more  right 
to  hold  the  negroes  in  slavery  than  to  so  treat 
the  Indians. 

The  Bishop  of  Burgos,  who  was,  you  will  re 
member,  always  bent  on  opposing  the  clerico 
in  everything  he  undertook,  laughed  at  this  plan. 
He  said  he  had  been  trying  for  years  to  get 
men  to  go  out  to  the  Indies  and  could  not  find 
twenty  that  were  willing  to  venture.  However, 
Las  Casas  was  not  stopped  by  this,  and  set  to 
work  at  once  to  see  what  he  could  do.  A  man 
named  Berrio  was  appointed  to  go  with  him  and 
assist  him;  but  this  Berrio  turned  out  to  be 
anything  but  a  help,  refusing  to  obey  the  cler 
ico  's  orders,  and  finally  leaving  him,  without 
permission. 

Berrio  got  together  about  two  hundred  vaga 
bonds,  not  at  all  the  right  sort  of  people  for 
colonists,  and  sent  them  to  Seville,  to  be  shipped 


DISAPPOINTMENTS 


41 


to  the  Indies.  Las  Casas  was  not  informed  of 
the  matter,  and  as  no  one  had  any  instructions 
with  regard  to  these  colonists,  they  were  sent 
out  with  no  supplies  for  their  necessities.  When 
Las  Casas  heard  of  it,  he  insisted  upon  having 
provisions  sent  after  them ;  but  it  was  too  late 
to  benefit  many  of  them,  for  numbers  had  died 
of  the  hardships  suffered,  and  those  who  lived 
and  stayed  in  the  Indies  proved  a  very  bad  ad 
dition  to  the  white  population. 

Meanwhile,  the  Grand  Chancellor  had  died, 
and  Bisho£jPonseca  was  again  at  the  head  of 
Indian  affairs,  mucTi  to  the  clerico  's  grief.  Fon- 
seca  refused  to  do  anything  at  all  for  the  col 
onists,  and  as  Las  Casas  would  not  allow  them 
to  go  under  such  conditions  of  neglect,  the  plan 
fell  through.  ^J^utoojso^ 


CHAPTER  VI 

-» 

THE   KNIGHTS   OF   THE   GOLDEN  SPUR 

THEEE  had  been  for  some  time  both  Fran 
ciscan  monks  and  Dominican  fathers  on  the 
mainland  of  South  America,  working  among  the 
natives.  Pedro  de  Cordova,  the  head  of  the 
Dominicans  in  the  Indies,  wrote  to  Las  Casas 
at  about  this  time,  asking  him  to  get  the  King 
to  grant  a  certain  territory  on  the  mainland, 
where  no  white  men  except  the  Dominicans  and 
Franciscans  should  be  allowed  to  go;  or,  if  he 
could  not  get  it  on  the  mainland,  to  try  to  se 
cure  some  small  nearby  islands,  saying  that  if 
the  King  would  not  do  this  it  would  be  necessary 
to  recall  all  the  brethren  of  the  Dominican  or 
der,  as  it  was  of  no  use  for  them  to  preach  to 
the  Indians  when  they  saw  all  about  them  the 
Christians  behaving  as  they  did.  Now  when 
the  clerico  had  spoken  to  Fonseca  about  this, 
the  reply  had  been  that  there  was  no  money 
in  it  for  the  King,  so  that  Las  Casas  saw  that 
if  he  was  to  get  the  grant,  he  must  find  a  way 
to  make  it  profitable  to  the  King  and  his  min- 

Jsters. 

~TThe  Good  Book  says  that  "the  love  of  money 

42 


KNIGHTS  OF  THE  GOLDEN  SPUE     43 

is  the  root  of  all  evil,"  and  certainly  Las  Casas 
was  inclined  to  believe  this  as  he  thought  of 
what  wickedness  it  had  led  the  Spaniards  into 
in  the  New  World.  No  wonder  the  Indians 
thought  that  gold  was  the  white  man's  god. 
The  clerico  tells  us  of  a  certain  Indian  chief, 
who  had  fled  before  the  Spaniards  from 
Hispaniola  to  Cuba,  and  who,  hearing  that  the 
Christians  were  coming  there  also,  called  his 
people  together  and  told  them  that  the  reason 
why  the  Spaniards  treated  them  so  cruelly  was 
because  they  had  a  god  whom  they  greatly  loved 
and  adored,  and  it  was  to  make  them  also  love 
and  serve  him  that  they  killed  and  enslaved 
them.  He  had  a  basket  of  jewels  and  gold  near 
him.  Holding  it  up,  he  said  that  this  was  the 
god  of  the  Christians  and  called  upon  his  peo 
ple  to  dance  before  this  god  and  worship  him, 
and  perhaps  he  would  not  allow  the  Spaniards 
to  harm  them. 

Poor  old  chief!  Driven  from  one  hiding 
place  to  another,  he  was  taken  at  last;  and  be 
cause  he  had  tried  to  escape  his  oppressors  and 
defend  his  people,  he  was  condemned  to  be 
burned  alive.  When  he  was  tied  to  the  stake  a 
Franciscan  priest  came  up  to  him  and  told  him 
that,  although  there  was  but  little  time,  yet  if 
he  would  believe  the  Christian  faith  and  be  bap 
tized  he  would  be  saved.  He  then  told  him  as 
much  as  he  could  of  God  and  of  His  Son  Jesus 
Christ,  our  Lord,  and,  having  finished,  asked 


44  LAS  CASAS 

him  if  he  would  believe  and  go  to  Heaven,  where 
he  would  be  happy  evermore,  saying  that  if 
he  did  not  he  would  go  to  Hell.  The  chief 
thought  for  a  moment  and  then  asked  if  the 
Christians  went  to  Heaven.  The  priest  replied 
that  those  that  were  good  did.  The  chief  at 
once  answered  that  in  that  case  he  did  not  wish 
to  go  to  Heaven,  where  he  would  have  these 
cruel  people  again;  he  would  go  to  Hell. 

Las  Casas  had  learned  by  this  time  that  the 
desire  for  wealth  must  be  considered  in  any 
plan  that  he  might  make  if  he  wanted  it  to  suc 
ceed,  and  he  believed  he  knew  of  a  way  by  which 
he  could  satisfy  the  King  and  at  the  same  time 
^_carry  out  his  design  of  converting  the  Indians 
by  kindness.  He  thought  he  could  find  fifty  men 
who  would  make  the  conversion  and  civilization 
of  the  Indians  their  first  object.  These  fifty 
were  to  wear  white  dresses,  with  red  crosses, 
so  that  the  Indians  would  know  them  from  other 
Spaniards.  ^.ThgXjyjjre, to  teach  the  natives  and 
protect  them  from  all  who  would  harm  them. 
Each  one  was  to  contribute  a  certain  sum  of 
money,  which  was  to  be  used  to  pay  the  expenses 
of  the  enterprise.  For  themselves,  they  were 
to  have  a  fixed  amount  of  the  revenue  and  cer 
tain  privileges,  and  they  were  to  be  called  the 
Knights  of  the  Golden  Spur.  The  King  was  to 
have,  after  the  first  three  years,  a  tribute,  which 
would  be  increased  year  by  year  for  ten  years, 
and  the  Knights  were  to  found  three  settle- 


KNIGHTS  OF  THE  GOLDEN  SPUE     45 

ments  in  five  years,  were  to  build  a  fort  in  each, 
and  were  to  explore  the  country  for  the  King. 
He  asked  also  that  those  Indians  that  had  been 
taken  away  from  this  part  of  the  country  should 
be  sent  back  to  their  homes. 

The  Grand  Chancellor  thought  very  well  of 
this  plan,  and  told  the  clerico  to  lay  it  before 
the  Council  of  the  Indies.  Of  course  their 
bishop,  Fonseca,  was  against  it.  The  plan  was 
not  absolutely  prohibited,  however,  but  they  de 
layed  doing  anything  about  it,  until  the  clerico 
was  nearly  driven  wild  with  anxiety  and  disap 
pointment. 

<  It  was  the  custom  in  those  days  to  have  cer 
tain  of  the  clergy  appointed  preachers  to  the 
King.  There  were  eight  such  preachers  at  the 
court  of  Spain.  Las  Casas  thought  perhaps 
these  priests  might  do  something  to  help,  so  he 
went  to  them  and  interested  them  in  the  scheme. 
They  tried  to  do  what  they  could,  and  even  went 
one  day  before  the  Council  of  the  Indies, — much 
to  the  astonishment  of  its  members, — and  hav 
ing  been  given  permission  to  speak,  made 
a  strong  plea  for  the  freedom  of  the  Indies. 
But  though  they  were  listened  to  with  courtesy, 
nothing  came  of  it. 

For  months  Las  Casas  fought  for  this  plan 
of  his,  which  he  felt  would  save  at  least  some 
of  the  native  people.  They  had  been  killed  off 
by  thousands  on  all  the  islands,  and  would  soon 
perish  on  the  mainland, — indeed,  wherever  the 


46  LAS  CASAS 

Spaniards  went, — unless  they  could  be  made 
free.    His  enemies  fought  against  his  plan  and 
against  him,  accusing  him  of  everything,  even 
of  desiring  to  get  the  grant  of  territory  for  his 
}  own  profit.    Even  his  friends  sometimes  mis- 
/  iipderstood  him.    One  of  them,  a  young  lawyer, 
^Wshen  he  heard  of  rents  to  be  paid  to  the  King 
and  of  honors  to  be  given  to  the  Knights  of 
the  Golden  Spur,  said  that  this  " scandalized" 
him,  for  it  showed  a  desire  for  temporal  things, 
which  he  had  never  suspected  in  the  clerico.  Las 
Casas,  having  heard  of  this,  went  to  him  one 
day  and  said: 

"Senor,  if  you  were  to  see  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  ill-treated  and  afflicted,  would  you  not 
implore  with  all  your  might  that  those  who  had 
Him  in  their  power  would  give  Him  to  you, 
that  you  might  serve  and  worship  Him?" 

"Yes,"  replied  his  friend. 

"Then,  if  they  would  not  give  Him  to  you, 
but  would  sell  Him,  would  you  redeem  Him?" 

"Without  a  doubt." 

"Well,   then,    Senor,   that  is   what   I   have 
done,"  replied  Las  Casas; 
the  J£di££_Jte£iis^J2i^^ 
stripes  and^afflictipns  and  crucifixion,  not  once 

_»»--»»»— **    ii    •=*     "—'•«     Jfa*-^»»>— -^>. •^~*  -»'~— « 

hut  thousans,  of  iimea    fl 


3panj^ml£^^^ 


went  on  to  tell  his  friend  that,  seeing 
that  his  opponents  would  sell  him  the  Gospel, 


KNIGHTS  OF  THE  GOLDEN  SPUR     47 

he  had  offered  these  inducements,  buying  the 
right  to  teach  the  Indians  to  serve  and  love  the 
L^rd  Jesus  Christ. 

ijas  Casas  had  now  spent  altogether  four  or 
five  years  at  the  court  of  Spain,  trying  to  get 
something  done  for  his  Indians.  He  had  spent 
also  every  cent  of  money  he  possessed,  and  en 
dured  every  kind  of  opposition  and  abuse ;  but 
atjast  the  papers  were  signed.  The  grant  was 
now  assured,  though  not  so  much  land  had  been 
given  as  had  been  asked.  A  company  of  labor 
ers  was  ready  to  go  out  with  the  clerico,  and 
money  had  been  loaned  him  for  the  expenses  of 
the  undertaking.  Many  little  articles,  also,  were 
presented  to  him,  to  be  used  as  gifts  to  the  na 
tives  ;  and  away  he  sailed  to  start  the  new  work 
and  to  find  in  the  Indies,  he  hoped,  the  fifty 
Knights  of  the  Golden  Spur.  We  shall  see  how 
he  succeeded. 


CHAPTEE  VII 

THE   PEAKL   COAST 

IF  you  look  on  the  map  of  South  America, 
you  will  see  up  in  the  northeast  corner  the 
island  of  Trinidad,  and  close  by,  indenting  the 
coast  of  the  mainland,  the  Gulf  of  Para. 
Stretching  west  from  about  this  point  was  what 
was  called  the  Pearl  Coast,  and  it  was  in  this 
region  that  was  situated  the  land  that  had  been 
granted  to  Las  Casas  for  his  company  of  the 
Knights  of  the  Golden  Spur.  Now  while  he  was 
in  Spain  events  had  taken  place  in  this  territory 
that  made  the  founding  of  a  colony  very  difficult 
indeed. 

Both  the  Franciscans  and  the  Dominicans  had 
been  trying  to  do  missionary  work  among  the 
natives,  as  we  know,  and  both  orders  had  mon 
asteries  there.  For  a  time  all  went  well,  until  a 
Spaniard  named  Ojeda,  engaged  in  the  pearl 
fishery,  had  come  over  from  the  island  of 
Cubagua,  seeking  slaves. 

This  pearl  fishing  was  carried  on  by  use  of 
the  Indians  in  a  most  heartless  manner.  The 
poor  creatures  were  kept  swimming  about  un 
der  water  from  early  morning  until  sunset. 

48 


THE  PEAEL  COAST  49 

When  they  came  up  with  their  nets,  in  which 
they  put  the  oysters, — from  the  shells  of  which 
the  pearls  were  taken, — if  they  stopped  to  rest, 
a  man  in  a  boat,  who  kept  rowing  about  all  day 
for  this  purpose,  drove  them  in  again  with 
blows,  sometimes  seizing  them  by  the  hair  and 
throwing  them  in.  They  were  half  starved, 
their  only  food  being  the  oysters  or  fish  and  a 
very  little  bread.  At  night  they  were  put  in  the 
stocks  to  prevent  them  from  running  away.  The 
consequence  of  such  treatment  was  that  they  did 
not  live  long,  and  it  was  necessary  to  supply 
the  places  of  those  that  died  with  others.  For 
this  reason  slave  raids  were  very  frequent. 

This  Ojeda,  then,  came  over  to  the  mainland 
to  get  more  slaves,  and  carried  off  a  large  num 
ber  of  the  Indians.  Of  course  this  made  the 
natives  very  angry  and  they  resolved  to  kill 
him  and  the  white  men  with  him. 

Because  Ojeda  had  stopped  at  the  Dominican 
convent  the  natives  supposed  that  the  monks 
were  his  friends.  And  when  the  slave  hunter 
came  ashore  again  a  few  days  afterward  the 
infuriated  Indians  killed  him  and  his  men,  and 
a  week  later  they  attacked  the  convent  and 
killed  the  monks  also. 

When  the  news  of  this  revolt  of  the  natives 
was  heard  at  San  Domingo,  the  officers  of  the 
colony  resolved  to  send  an  expedition  to  avenge 
the  murder  of  the  Dominicans,  and  a  captain, 
jnamed  Ocampo,  was  placed  in  command  of  it. 


50  LAS  CASAS 

This  force  started  at  once,  and  had  reached 
Porto  Eico  when  Las  Casas  and  his  laborers 
landed.  Perhaps  you  can  imagine  how  the 
clerico  felst  when  he  knew  that  Ocampo  and  his 
soldiers  were  going  to  the  very  country  that 
had  been  granted  to  him  for  his  settlement  and 
were  to  punish  the  Indians  there,  where  he  had 
hoped  to  set  up  a  sort  of  city  of  refuge  for  them. 
He  hurried  to  show  Ocampo  his  papers  order 
ing  that  no  one  should  go  to  that  part  of  the 
country  except  Las  Casas  and  the  monks,  and 
that  the  natives  were  to  be  in  his  care  and  not 
enslaved. 

But  although  the  papers  had  the  royal  sig 
nature,  Ocampo  declared  that  he  had  had  his 
orders  from  the  officers  of  the  colony  at  San 
Domingo,  and  that  he  must  carry  them  out ;  that 
they  would  protect  him  if  he  was  doing  anything 
illegal.  In  vain  did  Las  Casas  storm  and  plead. 
It  was  all  of  no  use.  It  seemed  to  him  that 
there  was  nothing  to  be  done  but  to  go  to  San 
Domingo  at  once  and  get  the  officers  to  recall 
Ocampo.  So  he  distributed  his  laborers  by  twos 
and  threes  among  the  citizens  of  Porto  Eico, 
and  hurried  away. 

Nobody  in  San  Domingo  was  glad  to  see  the 
clerico  except  his  friends  the  Dominicans.  All 
others  were  angry  with  him  for  what  he  had 
been  doing  at  the  Spanish  court  to  obtain  the 
freedom  of  the  Indians.  They  knew,  however, 
that  Las  Casas  was  in  great  favor  with  the 


THE  PEARL  COAST  51 

King  and  his  ministers,  and  so  they  were  afraid 
to  oppose  him  openly  or  to  defy  the  royal  au 
thority;  but  they  did  everything  they  could  to 
delay  matters.  They  said  they  would  consider ; 
and  they  considered  so  long  that  it  soon  became 
useless  to  talk  about  recalling  Ocampo,  for  it 
was  too  late  to  reach  him.  They  discovered, 
also,  another  way  to  prevent  Las  Casas  from 
going  on.  They  found  a  ship  master,  engaged 
in  the  slave  trade,  who  was  only  too  glad  to  help 
them  by  declaring  the  elerico's  vessel  unsea- 
worthy;  and  he  was  not  allowed  to  use  it.  So 
there  he  was,  helpless  and  at  his  wits'  end  to 
know  what  to  do. 

Meanwhile,  Ocampo  had  reached  the  Pearl 
Coast,  decoyed  a  number  of  the  natives  on 
board,  and  made  slaves  of  them,  hanging  their 
chief  at  the  yardarm.  He  also  captured  a  great 
many  others.  Finally,  by  means  of  an  Indian 
woman, — who  had  been  taken  from  Cubagua  to 
Hispaniola  and  could  speak  Spanish,  and  whom 
he  freed  for  the  purpose, — he  made  peace  with 
the  remaining  Indians,  and  began  to  build  a 
town. 

The  slaves  Ocampo  had  captured  were 
brought  to  San  Domingo  and  sold  under  the 
clerico's  very  eyes;  nor  could  he  do  anything 
to  prevent  it,  although,  as  he  tells  us  himself, 
he  "went  raging. " 

He  became  so  angry  now,  however,  that  the 
authorities  thought  they  had  better  do  some- 


52  LAS  CASAS 

thing  to  make  peace  with  him.  He  declared  he 
would  go  to  Spain  and  tell  the  King  how  little 
attention  they  paid  to  the  royal  commands,  and 
would  have  them  all  punished.  They  knew  he 
was  very  likely  to  do  just  what  he  said  and  so 
at  last  they  went  to  him  with  a  plan  which  they 
hoped  would  pacify  him.  They  wanted  to  go 
with  him  as  partners.  That  is,  they  wished  to 
form  a  company  to  go  and  settle  the  land,  all 
of  them  contributing  toward  the  expenses  and 
all  sharing  in  the  profits.  This  was  a  long  way 
from  being  the  sort  of  colony  Las  Casas  had 
meant  to  found;  for  these  men  did  not  care  at 
all  for  the  good  of  the  Indians ;  all  any  of  them 
wanted  was  to  make  money;  but  he  had  not 
found  any  men  to  become  Knights  of  the  Golden 
Spur,  and  unless  he  went  in  this  way  it  looked 
as  if  he  could  not  go  at  all,  so  he  consented. 

They  fitted  out  two  ships  for  him,  and  at  last 
he  sailed,  stopping  at  Porto  Eico  to  take  on  his 
laborers.  But  here  he  had  another  disappoint 
ment:  not  one  of  them  could  be  found.  They 
had  grown  tired  of  waiting,  had  heard  such 
stories  of  the  riches  to  be  gained  by  mining  or 
engaging  in  the  slave  trade  that  they  had  every 
one  gone  off  either  pirating  or  chasing  Indians 
or  something  else  equally  bad;  and  Las  Casas 
had  to  go  on  without  them. 

When  at  length  Las  Casas  reached  the  land 
where  he  had  hoped  to  do  such  great  things  for 
the  natives,  the  Franciscans  came  joyfully  to 


THE  PEAEL  COAST  53 

meet  him,  chanting  Te  Deums.  Now,  they  felt, 
they  had  a  friend  and  protector.  They  took  him 
into  their  little  convent, — which  was  only  of 
wood,  thatched  with  straw, — and  into  their  little 
garden,  where  they  had  orange  trees,  vines,  and 
melons,  and  there  they  talked  together  of  what 
they  should  do. 

Las  Casas  built  a  large  storehouse  for  his 
goods,  and  sent  word  to  all  the  Indians  in  that 
part  of  the  country  that  he  had  been  sent  out 
by  the  new  King  of  Spain,  and  that  he  was  their 
friend  and  would  protect  them.  They  should 
not  be  ill-treated  any  more.  He  sent  presents 
to  them  to  show  that  he  wished  to  be  friends 
with  them. 

Ocampo  and  his  men  had  had  such  a  hard 
time  that  they  were  not  willing  to  stay  there, 
and  all  sailed  away,  leaving  Las  Casas  with 
only  a  few  servants  and  one  or  two  helpers.  It 
was  not  much  like  the  way  he  had  expected  to 
begin  his  famous  settlement.  If  it  had  not  been 
for  the  Franciscans,  he  would  have  been  lonely 
indeed. 

All  might  yet  have  gone  well  if  it  had  not 
been  for  the  Spaniards  on  the  island  of  Cu- 
bagua.  They  had  no  good  water  on  that  island, 
and  this  made  an  excuse  for  coming  to  the 
mainland  very  often.  They  brought  liquor  with 
them,  which  made  the  Indians  drunk  and  un 
manageable,  and  they  taught  them  many  evil 
ways.  This  was  a  great  perplexity  to  Las  Casas 


54  LAS  CASAS 

and  the  good  monks.  All  the  good  they  tried  to 
do,  all  their  teachings  of  the  Christian  religion, 
were  made  of  little  use  by  the  evil  example  of 
these  wicked  men.  Las  Casas  thought  that  per 
haps  if  he  had  a  fort  at  the  mouth  of  the  river, 
he  could  mount  the  guns  he  had  brought  with 
him  and  keep  the  unruly  people  in  order.  So 
he  hired  a  mason  to  build  one ;  but  the  people  on 
Cubagua  found  out  what  was  going  on  and 
bribed  the  man  to  stop  work  and  come  away, 
leaving  the  fort  unfinished. 

Things  grew  worse  and  worse,  and  all  felt 
that  something  must  be  done.  The  head  of  the 
Franciscans  kept  urging  Las  Casas  to  go  to 
San  Domingo  and  get  the  officers  there  to  help 
them.  The  clerico  knew  it  was  of  no  use  at  all 
to  appeal  to  those  men,  who  had  already  hin 
dered  him  so  greatly  in  his  plans  for  the  good 
of  the  Indians;  therefore,  for  a  long  time  he 
refused  to  go.  Finally,  however,  not  wishing 
to  be  obstinate,  he  agreed  to  do  so,  against  his 
better  judgment. 

He  appointed  one  of  his  men,  Francisco  de 
Soto,  to  take  charge  in  his  absence,  instructing 
him  particularly  not  to  let  both  of  their  boats 
leave  the  settlement  at  the  same  time,  as,  if 
trouble  arose  with  the  Indians,  these  boats 
might  be  their  only  means  of  escape.  This  man, 
either  because  of  stupidity  or  rebellion,  did  the 
very  thing  he  had  been  told  not  to.  As  soon  as 
the  clerico 's  back  was  turned  he  sent  one  boat 


THE  PEAEL  COAST  55 

off  one  way  and  the  other  another;  and  sorry 
enough  he  must  have  been  for  it  before  long, 
for  trouble  came  almost  at  once. 

The  pearl  fishers  of  Cubagua  had  not  ceased 
to  molest  the  Indians,  and  it  was  hardly  two 
weeks  after  Las  Casas  had  sailed  before  the 
Franciscans  detected  signs  of  danger.  The 
woman  who  had  been  used  by  Ocampo  to  make 
peace  with  the  natives  was  still  there,  and  the 
fathers  asked  her  whether  they  were  right  in 
thinking  that  the  Indians  were  planning  to  at 
tack  them.  The  woman,  by  name  Maria,  said 
'  '  No  "  with  her  lips,  because  other  Indians  were 
near,  but ' '  Yes ' '  with  her  eyes.  The  monks  and 
the  clerico's  servants  were  very  much  alarmed, 
and  a  ship  touching  on  that  coast  for  some 
reason,  they  begged  the  captain  to  take  them  on 
board;  but  he  refused,  and  they  were  left  to 
their  fate. 

In  the  settlement  great  anxiety  and  terror 
reigned.  The  white  men  tried  to  find  out  what 
day  had  been  set  for  the  attack,  and  at  last 
heard  that  it  was  to  take  place  the  next  day. 
They  began  to  fortify  the  monastery  and  the 
storehouse,  and  set  up  twelve  or  fourteen  guns 
that  they  had ;  but  discovered  that  their  powder 
was  damp.  We  wonder  how  they  could  have 
been  so  careless  as  to  allow  it  to  be  in  this  state, 
when  they  had  known  for  some  time  that  trouble 
was  likely  to  occur.  Now,  however,  they  took  it 
out  to  dry  it  in  the  sun,  as  soon  as  it  rose.  They 


56  LAS  CASAS 

were  too  late,  however;  for  the  Indians  came 
upon  them  with  a  rush,  and  they  fled  for  the 
monastery  building.  A  few  of  the  clerico  's  serv 
ants  wer.e  killed,  but  the  rest  of  them  and  the 
fathers  reached  the  shelter  of  the  monastery. 
The  Indians,  however,  set  it  on  fire. 

There  was  a  door  into  the  garden,  at  the 
rear,  and  a  tall  fence  of  cane  hid  it  from  the 
view  of  the  Indians.  The  refugees  ran  out  of  this 
door  into  the  garden  and  through  another  door 
out  to  the  creek  that  ran  nearby,  where  the 
monks  had  a  boat  of  their  own,  which  would 
hold  fifty  persons.  All  got  in  except  one  lay 
brother,  who  at  the  first  alarm  had  fled  and 
was  hidden  in  a  thicket  of  cane.  He  now  ap 
peared,  high  up  on  the  bank,  and  the  boatmen 
tried  hard  to  reach  him ;  but  the  current  was  too 
strong;  all  their  exertions  failed  to  bring  the 
boat  near  enough  to  him.  Seeing  that  all  would 
be  lost  if  they  did  not  cease  their  attempt  to 
save  him,  the  brother  signed  to  them  not  to 
make  further  effort;  and  they  were  obliged  to 
leave  him  to  his  fate.  Poor  fellow!  He  was 
killed  almost  at  once. 

The  Indians  were  not  long  in  seeing  that  their 
victims  were  escaping,  and  hurried  after  them 
in  a  much  lighter  boat,  so  that  they  gained  on 
the  fugitives  with  every  stroke.  The  Span 
iards  were  obliged  to  drive  their  boat  to  land 
and  hide  in  a  thicket  of  cactus.  Only  those  in 
fear  of  death  could  have  forced  their  way  into 


THE  PEARL  COAST  57 

such  a  thicket.  The  Indians,  with  their  naked 
bodies,  could  not  push  through  the  thorns,  and 
the  fleeing  men  therefore  escaped  and  made 
their  way  to  their  countrymen's  ships,  thus 
getting  in  safety  to  San  Domingo.  De  Soto, 
however,  died  before  their  arrival.  He  had 
been  shot  with  a  poisoned  arrow  while  running 
to  the  monastery  for  shelter. 

All  this  happened  within  two  months  after 
Las  Casas'  departure.  He,  meanwhile,  through 
the  ignorance  of  the  sailors,  had  been  carried 
a  long  way  past  San  Domingo,  and  for  all  this 
time  had  been  beating  about  with  contrary 
winds,  finally  landing  on  another  part  of  the 
island,  whence  he  was  obliged  to  proceed  on 
foot. 

He  was  traveling  with  a  party  of  persons 
also  bound  for  San  Domingo,  and  one  day  at 
noon,  as  they  drew  near  the  city,  while  they 
were  all  resting  in  the  shade  of  the  trees,  some 
people  came  up  with  them  and  told  them  that 
the  news  had  reached  the  city  that  the  Indians 
of  the  Pearl  Coast  had  killed  the  clerico,  Bar- 
tholome  Las  Casas,  and  all  his  household. 
Those  who  were  traveling  with  Las  Casas  de 
nied  this,  saying  that  he  was  with  them;  and 
while  they  were  disputing  he  awoke  and  heard 
what  they  said. 

Although  he  thought  it  might  not  be  as  bad 
as  it  was  represented,  he  knew  that  something 
terrible  must  have  happened  to  his  little  colony, 


58  LAS  CASAS 

and  went  on  at  once  in  great  anxiety  to  find 
how  much  of  the  news  was  true.  A  short  dis 
tance  out  some  of  his  friends  met  him.  Having 
heard  that  he  was  on  the  road,  they  had  come 
to  try  and  comfort  him  and  to  offer  him  money 
to  start  another  colony.  But  at  last  the  brave 
spirit  gave  way.  He  could  not  rally  at  once 
from  such  a  grief,  and  he  went,  broken-hearted, 
to  his  friends  the  Dominicans,  to  hide  his  sor 
rows  within  the  walls  of  their  monastery. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE    CLOISTEE 

DAY  after  day  Bartholome  Las  Casas  sat  in 
the  garden  of  the  Dominican  monastery  at  San 
Domingo,  sad  and  dejected.  As  he  thought  of 
his  years  of  struggle  and  realized  with  bitter 
grief  that  he  had  nothing  to  show  for  it  all, 
doubts  assailed  him,  and  he  accused  himself  of 
having  rashly  undertaken  work  to  which  he  had 
not  been  called.  He  might,  indeed,  have  gone  to 
Spain  again  and  received  help  to  carry  out 
his  plans;  but  he  had  not  the  courage.  His 
heart  was  like  water  within  him. 

Nor  was  he  encouraged  to  go  on  by  his  friends 
the  monks.  They  greatly  desired  to  have  him 
among  their  number,  and  urged  him  strongly 
to  give  up  the  fight  and  enter  the  brotherhood, 
— which  last  he  did.  The  Dominicans  rejoiced 
greatly  as  did  his  enemies  in  the  colonies,  for 
they  thought  they  were  surely  now  rid  of  the 
man  who  had  caused  them  so  much  trouble. 
And  so  they  were, — for  a  time. 

Seven  or  eight  years  went  by,  and  Barthol 
ome  Las  Casas  was  seldom  heard  of  outside 
the  convent  walls.  He  was  not  even  allowed 
to  preach  for  five  years,  but  during  this  time 

59 


60  LAS  CASAS 

of  seclusion  he  was  recovering  his  strength  of 
body  and  soul  for  the  work  of  the  future ;  and 
though  he  was  silent,  he  did  not  forget,  for  a 
part  of  the  time  he  was  at  work  on  his  "  His 
tory  of  the  Indies,'*  in  which  he  related  the 
cruelties  that  had  been  inflicted  upon  the  na 
tives. 

At  length  an  event  occurred  that  brought  the 
Protector  of  the  Indians  again  before  the  pub 
lic.  The  Franciscan  monks  had  educated  in 
their  convent  a  young  Indian  chief,  Enrique  by 
name.  This  young  man  had  married  a  beauti 
ful  Indian  girl  and  he  and  the  Indians  under 
him  had  been  assigned  to  a  certain  Spaniard, 
as  was  the  custom.  This  Spanish  master  took 
from  Enrique  first  a  fine  horse  and  then  his 
young  wife.  When  the  Indian  complained  of 
this  ill-usage  he  was  severely  whipped.  He 
then  appealed  to  the  authorities,  only  to  receive 
threats  of  worse  treatment.  Seeing  that  no 
help  was  to  be  got  from  any  one,  he  gathered 
his  Indians  together  in  the  mountains,  and  man 
aged  to  collect  a  quantity  of  lances  and  swords 
and  to  drill  his  people  in  the  use  of  them,  so 
that  they  held  their  ground  against  the  troops 
sent  to  subdue  them. 

One  of  his  old  teachers  from  the  Franciscan 
convent  went  to  him  to  try  and  persuade  him 
to  lay  down  his  arms ;  but  without  success.  At 
length  a  new  bishop  of  San  Domingo  was  sent 
out,  who  was  also  president  of  the  Audientia, 


THE  CLOISTER  61 

the  governing  body  of  the  Indies.  He  had  re 
ceived  instructions  to  subdue  this  rebellious 
chief,  and  after  trying  in  vain  to  accomplish  it, 
bethought  himself  of  Las  Casas,  for  whom  he 
sent. 

Las  Casas  at  once  agreed  to  go  and  see  what 
he  could  do,  and  set  off  alone  into  the  moun 
tains.  When  he  had  been  gone  several  months, 
the  president  and  council  began  to  feel  alarm 
for  his  safety ;  but  one  day  who  should  appear 
in  the  streets  of  San  Domingo  but  Las  Casas 
himself,  leading  the  rebellious  chief  by  the  hand. 
Great  was  the  wonder  and  delight  of  all.  He 
had  promised  Enrique  that  if  he  would  sub 
mit  to  Spanish  rule  and  pay  tribute,  as  did  all 
Spanish  subjects,  neither  he  nor  his  Indians 
should  be  punished,  nor  should  they  ever  again 
be  made  slaves.  This  promise  was  faithfully 
kept,  and  Enrique  was  ever  after  a  loyal  sub 
ject. 

During  the  eight  years  that  Las  Casas  had 
spent  in  the  convent,  many  important  events 
had  taken  place  in  the  New  World.  Cortez  had 
conquered  Mexico,  Alvarado  had  conquered 
Guatemala,  Pedrarias  had  overrun  and  laid 
waste  Nicaragua,  and  Pizarro  had  commenced 
his  conquest  of  Peru. 


About  1528  Las  Casas  went  once  more 


to 


Spain,  to  obtain  a  decree  from  the  King  which 
should  prevent  the  Indians  of  Peru  from  being 
enslaved.  While  there  he  preached  severa] 


62  LAS  CASAS 

times  at  court,  with  the  old  fiery  zeal  and  elo 
quence.  He  obtained  the  royal  order  and  re 
turned  with  it  to  Hispaniola.  A  new  prior  was 
about  to  be  sent  to  the  monastery  of  San  Do 
mingo,  in  Mexico,  and  with  him  went  Las  Casas, 
intending  to  go  on  to  Peru,  with  some  brothers 
of  the  order,  not  only  to  make  known  the  royal 
commands  with  regard  to  the  Indians  but  to 
found  convents  in  that  country.  However,  this 
turned  out  to  be  impracticable,  and  after  a 
short  stay  the  party  returned  to  Nicaragua. 

King  Charles  had  desired  the  Bishop  of  Nica 
ragua  to  establish  monasteries  in  his  diocese. 
The  arrival  of  Las  Casas  and  his  two  compan 
ions  presenting  the  opportunity  of  carrying 
out  the  King's  wish,  the  bishop  begged  them  to 
stay  with  him,  and  they  consented,  and  began 
at  once  to  learn  the  language  of  the  country. 

But  Las  Casas  got  into  difficulties  with  the 
governor  by  stirring  up  a  formidable  opposi 
tion  to  him  and  preventing  him  from  under 
taking  an  expedition  into  the  interior,  which  he 
desired  to  make.  The  clerico  had  good  reason 
for  this  course,  for  the  most  outrageous  cruel 
ties  had  been  practiced  against  the  Indians  in 
that  province,  and  he  tells  us  that  it  had  been 
known  to  happen  that  when  a  body  of  four  thou 
sand  Indians  had  gone  with  such  an  expedition 
to  carry  burdens,  but  six  returned  alive,  and 
that  often  when  an  Indian  was  sick  or  overcome 
with  weariness  and  want  of  food,  and  could  not 


THE  CLOISTER  63 

go  on,  in  order  to  get  the  chain  free  (for  they 
went  chained  together),  his  head  was  cut  off 
and  his  body  thrown  aside,  without  the  neces 
sity  of  stopping  the  train. 

About  this  time  the  Bishop  of  Nicaragua  died, 
and  the  Bishop  of  Guatemala  urged  Las  Casas 
to  come  into  his  diocese,  as  he  had  only  one 
priest  to  help  him.  The  feud  with  the  governor 
having  become  more  violent  than  ever,  it  seemed 
wise  to  accept  this  invitation.  Therefore,  aban 
doning  the  convent  he  had  established,  Las 
Casas  with  all  his  brethren  went  into  Guate 
mala,  making  their  home  for  a  time  at  Santiago, 
in  a  convent  that  had  stood  vacant  for  six 
years. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   LAND   OF   WAE 

THE  first  thing  these  four  missionaries, — 
Las  Casas,  Luis  Cancer,  Pedro  de  Angula, 
and  Eodrigo  de  Larada,— had  to  do  was  to  learn 
the  language  of  the  country,  which  was  called 
the  Quichi.  It  was  no  easy  task,  for  none  of 
them  were  young,— Las  Casas,  their  prior,  be 
ing  now  sixty-one  years  of  age.  The  Bishop  of 
Guatemala,  a  great  scholar,  was  their  teacher, 
and  day  after  day  this  little  company  of  monks 
might  have  been  seen,  sitting  with  the  Bishop, 
like  boys  at  school,  learning  conjugations  and 
declensions. 

Las  Casas  was  also  busy  writing  a  book, • 

which,  however,  was  never  published,— in  which 
he  tried  to  show  that  the  only  way  to  convert 
men  was  to  convince  the  mind  by  reasoning  and 
win  the  heart  by  gentleness.  The  authorities 
of  the  province  laughed  at  him  and  challenged 
him  to  try  it,  by  declaring  that  if  he  succeeded 
in  subduing  any  tribe  by  these  methods,  they 
would  at  once  set  free  their  slaves.  Las  Casas 
boldly  took  up  the  challenge  and  selected  for 

64 


THE  LAND  OF  WAR  65 

the  trial  a  part  of  the  country  called  "The 
Land  of  War."1 

Alvarado  had  carried  on  a  terrible  war  in 
Guatemala.  Thousands  of  Indians  had  been 
killed,  tortured,  and  made  slaves.  The  people 
of  the  district  where  Las  Casas  intended  to  try 
his  experiment  were  a  hardy,  warlike  race,  and 
their  country  was  a  land  of  steep  mountains, 
deep  ravines,  and  many  furious  mountain  tor 
rents.  They  had  fought  desperately  for  their 
liberty.  Three  times  the  Spaniards  had  at 
tempted  to  conquer  them,  and  each  time  had 
been  driven  back.  They  were  a  terror  to  the 
white  men,  and  not  a  Spaniard  dared  to  go 
near  them.  It  was  rightly  named  The  Land  of 
War.  Yet  it  was  these  turbulent,  unconquer 
able  people  whom  Las  Casas  now  declared  he 
would  Christianize  and  make  subject  to  Span 
ish  rule.  He  would  take  no  soldiers  with  him 
and  would  accept  no  aid  of  any  kind.  All  that 
he  asked  was  that  when  his  work  should  be  ac 
complished,  they  might  be  left  free,  only  paying 
tribute,  as  all  subjects  did,  to  the  crown.  To 
this  the  governor  of  Guatemala  agreed. 

By  this  time  the  fathers  could  both  write 
and  speak  the  Quichi  language  well,  and  they 
went  to  work  to  compose  in  verse  an  account 
of  the  creation,  the  fall  of  man,  the  birth,  life, 
and  miracles  of  our  Lord,  and  His  death  upon 

1 ' '  Tierra  de  Guerra, ' '  The  Land  of  War,  was  located  in  the 
present  state  of  Vera  Paz,  in  northern  Guatemala. 


66  LAS  CASAS 

the  cross.    These  verses  they  set  to  music,  for 
the  Indians  were  fond  of  songs. 

There  were  certain  Christian  Indians  that 
traded  with  the  people  in  the  Land  of  War,  go 
ing  to  them  at  regular  intervals.  The  fathers 
chose  some  of  these  traders  and  taught  them 
the  songs.  They  learned  very  quickly,  and  also 
played  an  accompaniment  on  their  musical  in 
struments.  When  they  were  ready  they  started, 
with  an  assortment  of  all  kinds  of  articles  such 
as  the  Indians  particularly  liked, — knives,  scis 
sors,  little  looking-glasses,  and  so  on. 

As  they  had  been  instructed,  the  four  ped 
dlers  went  first  to  a  great  native  prince.  His 
people  all  came  flocking  to  buy,  and  when  the 
business  of  the  day  was  over,  they  took  pains 
to  win  his  favor  by  making  him  a  present. 

After  supper  they  took  out  their  musical  in 
struments  and  began  to  play  and  chant  the 
verses  they  had  learned.  Hundreds  of  dusky 
warriors,  attracted  by  the  sweet  strains,  sat 
about  in  the  moonlight  and  listened. 

Next  night  many  more  natives  came,  and 
when  the  song  was  ended,  the  chief  asked  to 
have  it  explained.  This  was  just  the  oppor 
tunity  the  traders  had  been  waiting  for.  They 
told  the  chief  that  they  sang  only  what  they 
had  heard,  and  that  only  the  padres  could  ex 
plain  the  verses. 

"Who  are  the  padres?"  asked  the  chief.  In 
answer  to  this  question,  they  told  him  they  were 


THE  LAND  OF  WAR  67 

men  who  dressed  always  in  white  and  black, 
wore  their  hair  like  a  garland  about  the  head, 
did  not  eat  meat,  never  married,  did  not  seek 
for  gold,  and  sang  the  praises  of  God  day  and 
night. 

The  chief  was  much  struck  by  this  descrip 
tion,  especially  by  the  fact  that  the  padres  did 
not  seek  gold,  his  experience  with  Spaniards  be 
ing  that  they  loved  gold  above  everything  else 
in  the  world,  and  that  all  the  miseries  the  In 
dians  had  suffered  at  their  hands  had  been 
caused  by  their  insane  desire  to  possess  it. 

At  last,  though  it  was  a  difficult  matter  to 
persuade  these  Indians  to  allow  any  Spaniard 
to  enter  their  country,  they  decided  to  send  the 
young  brother  of  the  chief  out  with  the  traders, 
and  if  he  should  find  these  padres  all  that  had 
been  represented,  he  was  to  invite  them  to  come 
and  tell  them  of  their  religion. 

Great  was  the  joy  in  the  little  convent  when 
they  saw  the  prince  coming  with  the  Indian 
traders.  They  did  their  best  to  make  him  wel 
come,  and  after  a  few  days,  when  he  was  ready 
to  return,  Father  Luis  Cancer  was  sent  with 
him. 

What  was  the  good  father's  astonishment  to 
find  crowds  of  people  coming  to  meet  him, 
arches  erected  for  him  to  pass  under,  and  the 
roads  swept  before  his  feet! 

The  Indians  built  a  church  for  him  at  once, — 
made  of  the  trunks  of  trees,  roofed  with  pal- 


68  LAS  CASAS 

metto  leaves, — and  all  came,  wondering  and  ad 
miring,  to  see  what  he  would  do. 

Faithfully  he  taught  them,  until  the  chief  ac 
cepted  Christianity,  with  his  own  hands  over 
threw  their  idols,  and  was  baptized  and  given 
the  name  of  Don  Juan.  His  people  soon  fol 
lowed  his  example. 

Father  Luis  also  visited  other  parts  of  the 
country,  and  when  he  returned,  after  several 
months,  to  his  companions  there  was  great  re 
joicing  over  the  results  of  his  labors. 

Las  Casas  himself  now  went  into  The  Land 
of  War,  taking  with  him  Father  Pedro  de  An- 
gula.  Just  as  they  reached  Don  Juan's  town 
the  young  prince,  his  brother,  came  home  from 
the  neighboring  district  of  Coban,  bringing  with 
him  his  bride,  a  princess  of  that  tribe.  With 
him  were  a  number  of  the  Coban  princes.  There 
were  great  festivities  for  many  days,  but  in 
the  midst  of  the  rejoicing  the  Coban  princes, 
angry  that  the  bridegroom's  family  and  tribe 
had  become  Christians,  secretly  stirred  up  some 
of  the  people  to  burn  the  church,  managing 
carefully  to  conceal  their  own  share  in  the  mat 
ter.  Don  Juan  at  once  rebuilt  the  edifice,  how 
ever,  and  no  other  unpleasant  incident  occurred 
during  the  whole  stay  of  the  Spaniards  in  the 
country. 

While  in  The  Land  of  War  Las  Casas  went 
further  north,  and  whenever  he  returned  was 
always  welcomed.  As  the  people  became  Chris- 


THE  LAND  OF  WAE  69 

tian,  he  realized  that  in  order  to  teach  them,  it 
would  be  necessary  to  get  them  together  in 
towns,  where  many  could  be  reached  by  one 
man.  After  much  difficulty,  this  was  accom 
plished  and  several  such  towns  were  built,  Don 
Juan's  town  being  called  Eabinal. 

After  a  time  Las  Casas  sent  for  Luis  Cancer, 
who  when  he  came  brought  with  him  a  con 
tract,  signed  by  the  governor,  securing  the  prac 
tical  independence  of  the  Indians  of  The  Land 
of  War. 

Word  now  reached  Las  Casas  that  both  the 
Bishop  of  Guatemala  and  Alvarado  had  come 
to  Santiago,  and  he  resolved  to  go  down  and 
meet  them.  He  wished  Don  Juan  to  accompany 
him,  and  this  the  chief  was  quite  willing  to  do, 
but  wanted  to  take  something  like  an  army  with 
him,  and  was  with  difficulty  persuaded  to  have 
only  such  a  retinue  as  would  serve  to  show  his 
rank  and  importance. 

Father  Ladrada,  the  only  monk  left  at  the 
convent,  on  being  notified  that  all  these  visitors 
were  coming,  built  more  huts,  put  up  tents,  and 
laid  in  a  store  of  provisions  for  their  entertain 
ment.  Immediately  upon  their  arrival,  the 
Bishop  came  to  the  monastery  and  had  a  long 
conversation  with  the  prince.  So  much  struck 
was  he  with  the  Indian's  knowledge  of  the 
Christian  faith,  and  with  his  dignity  and  intelli 
gence,  that  he  asked  Alvarado  to  come  and  see 
him  also.  Although  this  great  captain  held  the 


70  LAS  CASAS 

life  of  an  Indian  of  no  more  worth  than  that 
of  a  dog,  yet  he  was  so  pleased  with  the  prince, 
that  wanting-  to  make  him  a  present,  but  hav 
ing  nothing  with  him  for  that  purpose,  he  took 
off  his  own  red  velvet  cap  and  placed  it  upon 
Don  Juan's  head. 

They  took  their  distinguished  visitor  about 
the  town,  having  first  asked  the  merchants  to 
make  their  shops  as  attractive  as  possible  and, 
if  the  prince  expressed  a  fancy  for  any  article, 
to  let  him  have  it  and  send  the  bill  to  the  Bishop. 
Don  Juan,  however,  preserved  his  Indian  stolid 
ity,  viewing  the  displays  with  perfect  gravity, 
and  neither  showing  surprise  nor  expressing 
admiration.  Only  once  did  he  remark  upon 
anything  that  he  saw.  He  asked  about  a  pic 
ture  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  which  was  displayed 
in  one  of  the  shops,  and  when  it  was  offered  to 
him  accepted  it,  afterwards  placing  it  in  his 
chapel  at  Eabinal. 

Las  Casas  and  Father  Ladrada  went  back 
with  Don  Juan,  intending  to  go  further  north 
into  the  district  of  Cohan  for  the  purpose  of 
establishing  there  a  permanent  mission  among 
the  natives. 

In  1-538  the  Bishop  of  Guatemala  sent  for  all 
the  Dominicans,  to  consult  with  him  about  se 
curing  more  workers.  At  this  council  it  was  de 
cided  to  send  Las  Casas  to  Spain  to  plead  for 
more  Dominicans  and  Franciscans  to  come  out. 
He  took  with  him  Father  Ladrada  and  Father 


THE  LAND  OF  WAR  71 

Luis  Cancer,  whose  Indian  converts  were 
greatly  grieved  to  part  with  them ;  but  the  cler- 
ico  comforted  them  with  the  promise  of  a 
speedy  return. 


CHAPTER  X 

BISHOP   OF    CHIAPA 

CHAKLES  V  was  in  Germany  when  the  little 
company  arrived  in  Madrid,  but  Las  Casas 
found  many  old  friends,  and  at  once  set  about 
his  business  with  his  usual  zeal  and  energy. 
When  he  was  not  preaching,  interviewing  offi 
cials,  traveling,  or  busy  in  some  way  about  mat 
ters  concerning  his  beloved  Indians,  he  was 
writing  a  book,  "The  Destruction  of  the  In 
dies/'  which,  however,  was  not  published  until 
twelve  years  afterward. 

The  clerico's  old  opponent,  Bishop  Fonseca, 
was  dead,  and  there  was  now  a  much  better 
spirit  in  the  council,  so  that  it  proved  easier 
than  ever  before  for  him  to  secure  the  legisla 
tion  he  desired.  The  Pope  had  also  recently 
issued  a  Bull  forbidding  all  good  Catholic  sub 
jects  to  make  slaves  of  the  Indians,  and  this 
was  a  great  help  to  Las  Casas.  Some  new 
laws  were  passed  for  their  benefit,  among  them 
one  that  forbade  any  lay  Spaniards  to  enter 
The  Land  of  War  for  five  years.  This  royal 
order  was  solemnly  proclaimed,  at  Las  Casas' 
request,  from  the  steps  of  the  cathedral-  of  Se 
ville. 

72 


BISHOP  OF  CHIAPA  73 

_/ 

And  now,  his  business  being  finished  and  the 
Franciscan  and  Dominican  monks  he  had  pro 
cured  for  Guatemala  being  ready  to  sail,  Las 
Casas  prepared  to  start  back  to  the  New  World ; 
but  at  the  last  moment  he  was  detained  by  the 
president  of  the  Council  of  the  Indies,  who 
needed  the  clerico's  advice.  The  Dominicans 
were  kept  back  with  him,  as  he  was  their  vicar- 
general,  but  the  Franciscans  went,  and  with 
them  Father  Luis  Cancer,  taking  with  -him 
a  copy  of  the  new  laws.  These  laws  were  a 
great  triumph  for  Las  Casas,  and  their  accept 
ance  was  due  to  his  wonderful  personal  influ 
ence. 

The  clerico  was  now  seventy  years  old.  He 
had  crossed  the  ocean  twelve  times.  Four  times 
he  had  gone  to  Germany  to  see  the  Emperor, 
and  we  must  remember  that  traveling  then  was 
a  much  more  difficult  and  unpleasant  experience 
than  anything  we  can  conceive  of  now.  In  his 
case  poverty  made  it  still  more  of  a  hardship. 
But  none  of  these  things  mattered  to  this  ear 
nest  "apostle"  if  only  he  could  lighten  the  hard 
lot  of  those  for  whom  he  labored  and  suffered. 

One  Sunday  evening,  while  he  was  in  Barce 
lona,  the  Emperor's  secretary  called  on  him  to 
tell  him  that  it  was  the  royal  wish  to  make  him 
Bishop  of  Cuzco,  the  largest  and  richest  of  all 
the  dioceses  in  the  New  World.  But  Las  Casas 
would  accept  no  reward  for  his  work,  and  for 
fear  he  should  be  urged,  he  left  Barcelona.  Not 


74  LAS  CASAS 

long  after,  however,  the  diocese  of  Chiapa l  was 
established,  and  the  bishop  appointed  to  it  hav 
ing  died  on  his  way  out,  this  bishopric  was  of 
fered  to  Las  Casas.  In  contrast  with  the  bish 
opric  of  Cuzco,  it  was  the  poorest  in  the  New 
World, — so  poor  indeed  that  the  Emperor  had 
to  help  out  the  salary  of  the  bishop  with  a 
royal  grant.  Such  a  field,  however,  appealed 
far  more  to  the  Protector  of  the  Indians  than 
the  former  one,  and  he  accepted  the  offer  and 
was  consecrated  in  Seville  on  the  8th  of  March, 
1544,  and  at  once  prepared  to  leave,,  taking  with 
him  forty- four  Dominicans.  The  voyage  proved 
to  be  a  very  trying  and  dangerous  one,  but  at 
length  the  holy  men  arrived  at  San  Domingo. 
The  Dominicans  came  to  meet  the  Bishop  and 
his  companions  and  escorted  them  to  the  mon 
astery,  and  the  Te  Deum  was  sung  in  the  church, 
in  thanksgiving  for  their  escape  from  so  many 
perils. 

Hardly  any  in  San  Domingo,  except  the  Do 
minicans,  were  glad  to  see  the  protector  of  the 
Indians.  The  new  laws  were  regarded  as  the 
ruin  of  the  coloniesl  Indignation  meetings  were 
held,  and  it  was  determined  to  boycott  the 
monks.  This  was  a  very  serious  calamity  to  the 
Dominicans,  for  as  they,  like  the  Franciscans, 
belonged  to  what  were  known  as  the  mendicant 

1  Chiapa,  the  diocese  of  Las  Casas,  is  now  the  Mexican  State 
of  Chiapas,  the  southernmost  State  of  Mexico,  bordering  on 
the  present  Eepublic  of  Guatemala. 


BISHOP  OF  CHIAPA  75 

orders,  and  depended  for  their  daily  bread  upon 
what  they  could  beg,  they  were  reduced  to  ex 
tremity. 

Prayer  was  offered  in  the  church  night  and 
day,  and  very  soon  the  Franciscans  began  se 
cretly  to  send  the  Dominicans  food  from  what 
they  themselves  received,  and  an  old  negro 
woman  offered  to  make  a  round  every  day  of 
the  houses  where  there  were  people  that  did 
not  share  the  evil  spirit  of  the  rest  of  the  town, 
and  so  their  necessity  was  relieved. 

In  spite  of  this  condition  of  things,  Las  Casas 
went  before  the  Audiencia,  and  in  the  name  of 
the  King,  summoned  them  to  set  free  the  In 
dians.  But  Spanish  subjects  had  a  right  to  pro 
test  against  any  new  laws  if  they  so  desired, 
and  when  this  was  done,  the  laws  were  not  en 
forced  until  the  protest  had  been  either  accepted 
or  rejected. 

Meanwhile,  Las  Casas  himself  wrote  to  the 
Emperor,  and  both  he  and  others  of  the  Do 
minicans  preached  constantly  against  slavery 
and  the  wrongs  done  the  Indians.  Naturally, 
these  sermons  increased  the  hatred  against 
them.  In  the  midst  of  these  troubles,  however, 
the  friars  were  astonished  and  delighted  to  re 
ceive  a  visit  one  day  from  a  rich  widow,  said  to 
be  the  richest  person  in  the  colony,  who  came  to 
tell  them  that  their  sermons  had  convinced  her 
that  it  was  a  sin  to  hold  the  Indians  in  bond 
age,  and  she  had  resolved  to  free  hers  (she  had 


76  LAS  CASAS 

more  than  two  hundred) ;  and  because  she  now 
felt  that  her  money  had  been  made  wrongly, 
she  was  about  to  make  over  her  plantation  to 
the  order.  -  This  caused  a  great  sensation  in 
the  town.  Then,  too,  seeing  the  Dominicans 
holding  to  their  convictions,  directly  against 
their  own  interests,  after  a  time  made  many 
people  rather  ashamed  of  themselves,  and[Ettle 
by  little  the  hostility  died  away,  so  that  when 
the  time  came  for  Las  Casas  and  his  monks  to 
leave,  some  of  the  Spaniards  even  expressed 
regret. 

r~They  sailed  early  in  December,  and  this  voy 
age  also  proved  a  trying  one.  It  was  very 
stormy,  and  their  pilot  turned  out  to  be  so 
ignorant  that  the  Bishop  himself  had  to  take 
the  wheel;  for  this  truly  wonderful  man  could 
sail  a  ship,  work  a  plantation,  write  books, 
plead  a  case  in  court,  perform  the  duties  of  a 
bishop,  and  at  the  same  time  fight  unceasingly 
for  the  oppressed. 

The  returning  Dominicans  had  a  terrible  trip, 
and  it  was  January  before  they  landed  at  the 
port  of  Lazaro,  in  his  own  diocese.  The  Span 
iards  and  the  Christian  Indians  came  out  at 
once  to  the  ship  to  greet  the  Bishop.  It  must 
have  been  a  queer  crowd :  Proud,  stately  Span 
iards,  in  velvets  and  laces;  blanketed  Indians, 
silent  and  stolid;  naked  heathens,  eager  to  see 
the  man  whom  they  knew  as  their  protector! 
But  Las  Casas  was  glad  to  see  them  all,  and 


BISHOP  OF  CHIAPA  77 

leaving  the  ship,  they  all  went  up  together  to 
the  church,  where  after  the  service  the  Span 
iards  came  to  kiss  the  episcopal  ring,  and  after 
them  the  Indians. 

At  first  the  Bishop  was  received  with  polite 
ness  and  apparent  kindness,  but  in  spite  of  this 
all  the  Spaniards  were  resolved  to  resist  the 
new  laws  and  not  to  acknowledge  Las  Casas  as 
their  Bishop  nor  pay  him  their  tithes./  This 
was  very  awkward,  for  Las  Casas  found  him 
self  thus  unable  to  pay  the  captain  of  the  ship 
in  which  he  and  the  monks  had  come,  but  the 
friars  sold  a  part  of  the  goods  they  had  brought 
with  them,  the  parish  priest  loaned  the  Bishop 
some  money,  and  he  gave  his  note  for  the  rest. 
So  that  difficulty  was  settled. 

Their  troubles  had  only  begun,  however.  It 
was  not  a  great  distance  to  Ciudad  Eeal,  where 
they  wished  to  go,  but  it  was  impossible  to 
carry  their  provisions  and  the  equipment  for 
the  church  by  land, '  so  they  loaded  their  bag 
gage  on  an  old,  flat-bottomed  boat,  to  go  by  sea ; 
and  twelve  of  the  fathers,  with  a  number  of 
others,  went  in  it.  Two  days  later  the  Bishop 
and  the  rest  were  ready  to  sail  on  a  faster  boat ; 
but  just  as  they  were  about  to  embark,  word 
came  that  the  other  boat  had  been  wrecked 
and  nine  of  the  fathers  and  twenty-seven  lay 
men  drowned.  Those  who  had  been  saved  were 
staying  in  an  Indian  village  near  the  shore,  and 
everything  they  possessed  had  been  lost. 


78  LAS  CASAS 

The  remaining  monks  were  so  alarmed  that 
at  first  they  refused  to  go  by  sea,  but  Las  Casas 
finally  persuaded  them  that,  as  the  skies  were 
clear  and  their  boat  a  strong,  new  one,  they 
were  in  no  danger,  and  the  party  set  out.  It  was 
a  very  sad  and  downcast  little  body  of  men, 
however.  All  oqie  night  and  day  they  sat, 
without  eating  or  speaking.  ,  When  they  reached 
the  place  where  the  other  boat  had  been 
wrecked,  the  captain  pointed  out  the  spot,  and 
the  Bishop  recited  the  prayers  for  the  dead. 
Then  he  ordered  food  to  be  prepared,  called 
them  all  to  come  to  the  table,  and  s'et  the  ex 
ample  by  himself  eating  and  talking  cheerfully 
all  the  time,  until  his  companions'  courage  was 
restored. 

A  gale  coming  up,  the  party  took  refuge  be 
hind  an  island,  where  they  lay  for  a  long  time 
before  they  could  go  on ;  and  then,  because  some 
of  them  were  still  afraid,  they  divided  into  two 
bodies, — the  Bishop,  his  faithful  friend  and  con 
stant  companion,  Father  Ladrada,  and  two 
other  monks,  remaining  on  the  boat,  and  the 
rest  proceeding  by  land. 
Prhe  town  of  Chiapa  was  the  Indian  town  of 
the  diocese;  Ciudad  Real,  the  Spanish  to wnj  It 
was  to  the  latter  that  the  Bishop  went  first. 
The  people  received  him  cordially  and  showed 
him  every  outward  form  of  respect.  He  found 
but  few  priests  in  the  whole  diocese,  four  of 
them  in  and  about  Ciudad  Real.  Of  these,  one 


BISHOP  OF  CHIAPA  79 

was  quite  young  and  had  no  particular  charge, 
one  traveled  about  from  one  town  to  another, 
baptizing  the  Indians  for  the  money  it  brought 
him ;  one  was  a  partner  in  a  sugar  plantation 
and  spent  more  time  attending  to  this  business 
than  to  his  clerical  duties,  and  another  collected 
from  the  owners  of  plantations  and  slaves  taxes 
and  tribute  paid  to  the  crown.  The  Bishop 
took  all  these  into  his  house,  to  keep  them  in 
order,  paying  them  a  small  salary  and  giving 
them  their  meals  at  his  own  table. 

Las  Casas'  manner  of  living  as  a  bishop  was 
no  different  from  that  -  which  he  had  practiced 
as  a  simple  monk./  His  habit  was  rusty  and 
patched  and  he  ateTno  meat,  though  it  was  pro 
vided  for  his  guests :  his  forks  and  spoons  were 
of  wood,  and  the  dishes  of  plain  earthenware. 
This  simple  mode  of  life  did  not  suit  the  priests, 
and  two  of  them  left  his  diocese. 

tSll  day  Las  Casas  attended  to  the  work  of 
the  diocese,  and  late  into  the  night  he  studied 
and  wrotej  At  all  times  the  Indians  had  free 
access  to  him,  coming  to  him  with  all  their  sor 
rows.  Every  day  they  would  crowd  about  him, 
their  faces  swollen  with  weeping  and,  kissing 
the  hem  of  his  robe,  would  pour  out  to  him  the 
story  of  the  cruelties  from  which  they  suffered. 
The  good  Bishop  suffered  with  them  and  often 
would  be  heard  in  the  night,  sighing  and  groan 
ing  in  his  room. 

Las  Casas  preached  constantly  against  the 


80  LAS  CASAS 

enslaving  of  the  Indians,  and  rebuked  the  hold 
ers  of  slaves  for  their  disregard  of  the  new 
laws.  He  ordered  his  clergy  to  refuse  absolu 
tion  and  the"  sacraments  to  those  who  would  not 
obey,  which  order  aroused  the  anger  of  the 
whole  community  against  him."  His  Dean  dis 
obeyed  him  and  sided  with  the  colonists.  He 
was  petitioned,  threatened,  and  abused.  The 
children  were  taught  couplets  against  him, 
which  they  sang  after  him  in  the  street.  Some 
one  even  discharged  a  gun  into  the  window  of 
his  room  one  night,  to  frighten  him.  All  sup 
port  was  withdrawn  from  the  Dominicans,  and 
the  Bishop 's  salary  was  not  paid.  / 

Finally  the  Bishop  arrested  tfie  Dean.  In 
those  days,  when  the  Eoman  Church  was  so 
powerful,  bishops  had  a  kind  of  episcopal  mar 
shal,  and  usually  there  was  also  an  episcopal 
jail,  where  ecclesiastical  offenders  were  con 
fined.  This  arrest  of  the  Dean  stirred  up  a 
great  commotion.  A  crowd  of  people  gathered 
around  him,  and  he  made  a  frantic  effort* to 
escape,  crying  out : 

1  '  Help  me !  Gentlemen,  help  me ! ' ' 
And  he  voiced  all  sorts  of  promises,  if  they 
would  assist  him.  The  citizens  being  armed, 
in  a  few  minutes  the  Dean  was  free ;  whereupon 
sentinels  were  set  at  all  the  doors  of  the  mon 
astery,  to  prevent  the  monks  from  going  to  the 
assistance  of  their  Bishop,  and  a  shouting  mob 
forced  its  way  into  his  house. 


BISHOP  OF  CHIAPA  81 

One  of  the  Dominicans  and  a  knight  of  Sala 
manca,  who  chanced  to  be  fhere,  met  the  riotous 
crowd  and  managed  to  quiet  the  tumult  a  little ; 
but  the  leaders  burst  into  the  Bishop's  room, 
shouting  at  him,  insulting  him,  and  even  threat 
ening  to  kill  him/ 

Las  Casas  spoke  not  a  word,  but  stood  calmly 
looking  at  them  until  the  storm  had  spent  itself, 
when  quietly,  with  words  of  pity  and  forgive 
ness,  he  dismissed  them. 

He  now  excommunicated  the  Dean.  The 
monks  were  greatly  alarmed  for  the  Bishop's 
life  and  begged  him  to  leave  and  go  to  some 
place  of  safety,  but  he  said  to  them : 

"Fathers,  where  would  you  have  rne  go? 
Where  shall  I  be  safe  as  long  as  I  act  in  behalf 
of  these  poor  creatures?  Were  the  cause  mine, 
I  would  drop  it  with  pleasure^  but  it  is  that  of 
my  flock,  of  these  miserable  Indians,  oppressed 
by  unjust  slavery. ' ' 

While  they  were  talking,  four  other  Domini 
cans  rushed  in  to  tell  the  Bishop  that  the  man 
who  had  threatened  to  kill  him, — the  one  that 
had  fired  the  shot  to  frighten  him, — had  been 
stabbed.  At  once  Las  Casas  rose,  and  sending 
for  a  surgeon  and  taking  some  of  the  brothers 
with  him,  went  to  minister  to  the  injured  man. 
For  hours  they  worked  over  him,  the  Bishop 
ministering  to  him  as  to  a  brother;  and  so 
touched  was  the  man  that  he  begged  Las  Casas ' 
forgiveness  with  all  his  heart,  and  was  from 


82  LAS  CASAS 

that  day  one  of  the  clerico's  warmest  friends, 
tlhe  Bishop's  salary  was  now  refused  him, 
all  alms  withdrawn  from  the  Dominicans,  and 
when  Indians  were  sent  out  into  the  province 
to  beg  for  them,  the  Spaniards  seized  whatever 
was  brought  in,  and  gave  the  bearers  a  sound 
beating  into  the  bargain,  so  that  it  was  im 
possible  to  obtain  food  in  this  way. 

It  now  became  absolutely  impossible  for  the 
monks  to  live  any  longer  in  Ciudad  Eeal,  and 
it  was  decided  to  go  to  the  Indian  town  of 
Chiapa  and  build  a  convent  there;  but  before 
leaving  the  Bishop  preached  a  sermon  in  which 
the  people  were  told  plainly  that  it  was  be 
cause  of  the  hardness  of  their  hearts  and  their 
sin  in  persisting  to  keep  the  Indians  as  slaves, 
after  the  Dominicans  had  shown  them  the  evil 
of  it,  that  the  friars  were  going  away. 


CHAPTER  XI 

REVOLT    IN    CHIAPA 

THE  Bishop  and  the  monks  now  departed 
from  the  Spanish  town  and  took  up  their  resi 
dence  in  Chiapa.  Some  distance  outside  the 
town  they  found  a  number  of  Indians  waiting 
for  them,  gayly  dressed,  decorated  with  golden 
chains  and  bracelets,  and  carrying  crosses  made 
of  feathers  and  flowers.  As  soon  as  Las  Casas 
was  conducted  to  the  house  made  ready  for  him, 
the  Indians  began  to  come  in  from  all  the  coun 
try  round,  begging  to  be  taught  the  Christian 
religion.  Joy  filled  the  heart  of  the  good 
Bishop.  Such  a  scene  made  up  for  all  the  tor 
ments  and  insults  he  had  suffered  at  the  hands 
of  his  own  countrymen. 

Happy  as  he  was,  however,  at  this  readiness 
on  the  natives'  part  to  accept  the  gospel  mes 
sage,  the  tales  of  suffering  they  poured  into 
his  ears  wrung  his  heart.  All  over  the  province 
women  were  stolen,  property  taken  away,  and 
the  helpless  Indians  bought  and  sold  like  cattle, 
—overworked,  beaten  and  starved,  until  they 
died  and  so,  at  last,  found  peace. 

The  Bishop  could  not  get  the  new  laws  en- 
83 


84  LAS  CASAS 

forced.  No  attention  was  paid  either  to  Ms  en 
treaties  or  Ms  threats,  so  at  length, — in  June, 
1545, — he  determined  to  go  to  Gracias  a  Dios, 
and  present_the  matter  to  the  council  governing 
the  country,  demanding  that  they  compel  obe 
dience  to  the  royal  mandate. 

He  took  the  road  through  Guatemala,  in  or 
der  to  visit  again  "The  Land  of  War,"  now  a 
land  of  peace.  It  was  a  wonderful  encourage 
ment  to  him  to  find  the  Indians  living  peaceful, 
orderly,  Christian  lives,  unmolested  and  happy. 
Great  numbers  of  them  came  to  greet  him  with 
tears  of  joy,  and  if  he  had  needed  any  proof 
of  the  wisdom  of  his  method  of  Christianizing 
the  Indians,  he  found  it  in  the  transformation 
that  had  taken  place  all  through  the  district. 

To  all  who  came,  Las  Casas  spoke  in  their 
own  language,  giving  to  them  the  royal  com 
mand,  signed  by  the  Emperor,  that  they  should 
never  be  anything  but  a  free  people. 

The  Bishop  of  Guatemala  went  with  Las 
Casas  to  visit  The  Land  of  War,  and  had  in 
tended  to  go  with  him  to  Gracias  a  Dios,  where 
they  were  both  to  assist  in  the  consecration  of 
a  new  bishop  of  Nicaragua.  Learning,  however, 
that  the  Protector  of  the  Indians  was  going 
principally  to  insist  upon  the  enforcement  of 
the  new  laws,  and  that  a  letter  had  been  writ 
ten  to  Prince  Philip,  heir  to  the  throne,  inform 
ing  him  that  he,  the  Bishop  of  Guatemala,  had 
many  slaves  and  did  not  uphold  these  laws 


EEVOLT  IN  CHIAPA  85 

either  in  practice  or  in  teaching,  he  turned  back 
and  returned  to  his  own  diocese,  and  from  a 
warm  friend  he  became  one  of  the  Bishop's  en 
emies. 

The  journey  to  Gracias  a  Dios  was  a  difficult 
and  dangerous  one  at  that  season  of  the  year. 
All  such  journeys  were  of  course  made  on  foot, 
and  the  streams  that  had  to  be  crossed  were 
swollen  and  turbulent  from  the  violent  rains, 
which  had  also  in  some  cases  destroyed  the 
roads;  But  we  never  hear  that  Las  Casas  in 
all  his  life  ever  once  gave  up  or  delayed  a  trip 
either  because  of  ill  health  or  dangers  in  the 
wayTJ  Now,  at  seventy-one,  he  had  all  the  en 
durance  and  energy  of  youth. 

Immediately  upon  his  arrival  he  went  before 
the  council,  but  met  with  nothing  but  insults. 
One  day  as  he  came  in,  an  officer  cried  out: 

"Put  out  that  fool!" 

On  another  occasion,  having  been  commanded 
to  withdraw,  Las  Casas  refused  to  do  so,  and 
the  president  ordered  him  to  be  removed  by 
force.  The  Bishop  solemnly  summoned  the 
judges,  in  the  name  of  Grod,  to  relieve  the  In 
dians  from  oppression  and  remove  the  stum 
bling  blocks  their  tyranny  was  putting  in  the 
way  of  Christianizing  them.  At  this  the  chief 
justice  lost  his  temper  and  shouted : 

"You  are  a  bad  man,  a  cheat,  a  bad  bishop,  a 
shameful  fellow,  and  deserve  to  be  punished!" 

Such  language  used  by  a  Spanish  official  to- 


86  LAS  CASAS 

ward  a  bishop  in  those  days,  when  the  Eoman 
Catholic  Church  had  so  great  an  influence  upon 
the  nation,  startled  even  those  most  hostile  to 
Las  Casas.  The  chief  justice  found  himself  re 
garded  by  the  whole  community  as  practically 
excommunicated  because  of  this  rash  speech, 
and  was  obliged  to  make  a  sort  of  half-hearted 
apology  for  having  so  spoken. 
"""Las  Casas  was  not  only  a  Bishop  but,  by 
training  and  experience  at  the  court  of  Spain, 
one  of  the  foremost  lawyers  of  his  time;  and 
now,  seeing  that  he  could  obtain  nothing  from 
the  judges  by  peaceful  means,  he  instituted 
legal  proceedings  against  them.  This  accom 
plished  some  good,  for  an  auditor  was  sent  by 
them'  to  Ciudad  Eeal,  to  see  to  the  enforce 
ment  of  the  new  laws,  and  the  inhabitants  of 
that  place  were  notified  of  his  coming  by  let 
ter.^ 

When  the  notice  was  received,  at  once  the 
tocsin  was  rung,  and  when  all  the  citizens  were 
gathered  together,  a  protest  was  read,  stating 
that  the  Bishop  had  taken  possession  of  his  see 
without  showing  the  papal  bulls  or  the  royal 
decree  authorizing  him  to  do  so,  and  declaring 
that  he  must  cease  his  innovations  and  do  as 
other  bishops  did,  if  he  wanted  them  to  pay  their 
tithes  and  receive  him  as  their  bishop. 

The  inhabitants  stationed  a  body  of  Indians 
on  the  road  by  which  he  was  to  come,  to  give 
notice  of  the  approach  of  Las  Casas,  and  de- 


REVOLT  IN  CHIAPA  87 

termined  to  prevent  his  entrance  into  the  city 
by  force. 

The  Bishop  had  sent  on  his  baggage  by  In 
dian  couriers,  but,  receiving  word  of  the  hostile 
attitude  of  the  citizens,  he  recalled  them,  and 
stopped  at  the  Dominican  monastery  in  the  town 
of  Copanabastta,  to  consult  with  the  brethren 
there. 

Meanwhile,  a  lay  brother  and  a  gentleman 
of  the  town,  who  was  friendly  to  the  Bishop, 
had  gone  to  his  house  and  removed  his  books 
and  household  goods  to  a  place  of  safety.  The 
people  hearing  of  this,  a  mob  attacked  them  at 
midnight;  but  they  took  refuge  in  the  sacristy 
of  the  church,  where  they  could  not  be  reached, 
and  at  daybreak  escaped  and  got  out  of  the 
town. 

News  of  all  this  was  brought  to  the  Bishop, 
and  the  Dominicans  advised  him  not  to  go  on, 
but  he  said : 

"If  I  do  not  go  to  Ciudad  Eeal,  I  banish 
myself  from  my  own  church,  and  it  will  be  said 
of  me  with  reason,  'The  wicked  flee  when  no 
man  pursueth.'  ' 

He  added: 

1  i  The  minds  of  men  change  from  hour  to  hour. 
Is  it  possible  that  the  mercy  of  God  will  permit 
them  to  commit  so  horrible  a  crime  as  to  mur 
der  me?  If  I  do  not  endeavor  to  enter  my 
church,  how  can  I  complain  to  the  Emperor 
or  the  Pope  that  I  have  been  thrust  out  of  it?" 


88  LAS  CASAS 

And  he  finished  by  saying: 

"My  good  fathers,  trusting  in  the  mercy  of 
God  and  your  fervent  prayers,  I  am  resolved 
to  proceed  on  my  journey,  as  no  other  alter 
native  is  left,  without  my  neglecting  my 
duty." 

Then,  gathering  up  the  folds  of  his  habit, 
he  set  out,  calm  in  the  midst  of  the  tears  and 
prayers  of  those  about  him. 

It  was  sunset  when  Las  Casas  started  and  late 
at  night  when  he  came  upon  the  Indian  senti 
nels.  The  report  had  gone  out  that  the  Bishop 
had  given  up  the  attempt  to  enter  the  town, 
and  the  Indians  were  therefore  off  their  guard 
and  had  fallen  asleep.  Wakened  suddenly  by 
the  approach  of  the  Bishop,  they  fell  at  his  feet 
when  he  said  gently  to  them: 

"Are  you  ready  to  destroy  your  father?" 

Distressed  at  their  position,  and  overjoyed  to 
see  him  again,  the  poor  creatures  knelt  before 
him,  begging  his  forgiveness  and  pouring  out 
with  tears  their  love  for  him. 

Las  Casas  was  afraid  that  the  Indians  would 
be  punished  for  failing  to  give  notice  of  his 
arrival,  so,  with  his  own  hands  he,  assisted 
by  one  of  the  fathers,  bound  them,  that  it  might 
appear  that  he  had  surprised  and  captured 
them. 

That  night  there  was  an  earthquake  at  Ciu- 
dad  Eeal,  and  the  citizens  said  it  was  because 
of  the  Bishop,  and  that  it  was  only  the  begin- 


EEVOLT  IN  CHIAPA  89 

ning  of  the  destruction  he  would  bring  upon 
the  town. 

Entering  Ciudad  Eeal  about  daybreak,  Las 
Casas   went   immediately   to   the   church   and 
summoned  the  council  to  meet  him  there.^  They 
came,  followed  by  all  the  rest  of  the  citizens, 
and  seated  themselves.    When  the  Bishop  came 
in  to  speak  to  them,  no  one  rose  or  showed  him 
any  of  the  usual  marks  of  respect.    The  notary 
at  once  stood  up  and  read  the  paper  the  citizens 
had  prepared  at  the  town  meeting.    The  Bishop 
answered  this  quietly  and  courteously,  saying 
that  he  had  no  intention  of  interfering  with 
their  property  except  to  prevent  sin  against 
God  and  their  neighbor.     His  gentleness  was 
beginning  to  make  some  impression,  when  one 
of  the  council,  neither  rising  nor  removing  his 
cap,  commenced  a  violent  speech,  declaring  that 
the  Bishop  was  but  a  private  individual,  and 
if  he  wished  to  speak  to  them,  should  have  gone 
to  them  and  not  have  presumed  to  summon 
them  to  come  to  him. 

Las  Casas  replied  with  great  dignity : 
"Look  you,  sir;  when  I  wish  to  ask  anything 
from  your  estates,  I  will  go  to  your  house  and 
speak  to  you,  but  when  I  have  to  speak  to  you 
concerning  God's  service  and  the  good  of  your 
souls,  it  is  for  me  to  send  and  call  you  to  come 
wherever  I  may  be,  and  if  you  are  Christians 
you  have  to  come  trooping  in  haste,  lest  evil 
fall  upon  you." 


90  LAS  CASAS 

Nobody  dared  answer  this,  and  the  Bishop, 
rising,  immediately  withdrew  into  the  sacristy. 

There  the  notary  of  the  council  came  to  him 
and  respectfully  presented  a  petition  from  the 
townspeople,  asking  that  they  have  confessors 
appointed.  The  Bishop  assented  and  named 
two;  but  these  not  being  acceptable,  he  chose 
two  others,  whose  views  were  not  very  well 
known  to  the  people,  but  whom  he  knew  to  be 
in  sympathy  with  himself.  The  brother  who 
was  with  him,  not  understanding  the  character 
of  the  men  he  had  last  appointed  and  thinking 
he  was  yielding  to  pressure,  took  hold  of  his 
vestments  and  cried : 

' '  Let  your  lordship'  rather  die  than  do  this ! ' ' 

At  that  a  tumult  broke  out  in  the  church, 
and  the  people  would  have  assaulted  the 
speaker,  if  at  that  moment  two  monks  of  the 
Order  of  Mercy  had  not  entered  the  building 
and  succeeded  in  getting  the  Bishop  and  the 
offending  father  out  in  safety, — taking  them  to 
their  convent. 

Las  Casas  had  walked  all  night,  and  the 
fatigue  of  the  journey  and  the  excitement  of 
this  meeting  had  left  him  much  exhausted,  but 
he  was  not  yet  to  have  rest. 

He  was  seated  in  his  cell,  and  the  monks  were 
giving  him  some  refreshment,  when  a  fearful 
uproar  was  heard  outside,  and  the  convent  was 
found  to  be  surrounded  by  armed  men.  Some 
of  them  forced  their  way  into  the  Bishop's  pres- 


EEVOLT  IN  CHIAPA  91 

ence.  At  first  there  was  such  a  noise  that  it 
was  impossible  to  hear  what  it  was  all  about, 
but  at  last  it  appeared  that  it  was  because  the 
Indian  sentinels  had  been  bound  and  treated  as 
prisoners. 

Las  Casas  at  once  said  that  he  alone  was  to 
blame  for  this,  and  explained  that  it  was  done 
for  fear  they  should  be  suspected  of  favoring 
him. 

Then  a  storm  of  abuse  broke  out  against  the 
Bishop,  no  feeling  of  respect  for  his  office  nor 
of  consideration  for  his  age  restraining  them. 

Meanwhile,  while  this  was  going  on  within, 
a  scene  of  violence  was  taking  place  in  the  court 
yard.  The  mob  attacked  the  negro  who  at 
tended  the  Bishop  in  all  his  travels.  This  negro 
was  of  great  stature  and  the  Bishop  in  jest 
called  him  Juanillo  (Little  John).  He  had 
traveled  three  times  across  the  continent  with 
the  Bishop,  and  always  carried  him  in  his  arms 
when  fording  the  swollen  streams.  Juanillo 
was  wounded  with  a  pike  thrust  and  stretched 
on  the  ground.  The  monks  rushed  out  to  help 
him  and  two  of  them, — very  strong  young  men, 
— succeeded  in  clearing  the  courtyard. 

All  this  took  place  before  nine  o  'clock  in  the 
morning.  By  noon  there  was  a  revulsion  of 
feeling, — the  minds  of  the  citizens  had  entirely 
changed.  The  members  of  the  council  came 
humbly  to  the  convent,  asked  the  Bishop's  par 
don  on  their  knees,  and  kissed  his  hands.  They 


92      .  LAS  CASAS 

then  carried  him  in  festive  procession  to  the 
house  of  one  of  the  principal  citizens,  and  sent 
him  costly  presents.  Finally,  they  arranged  a 
grand  tournament  in  his  honor. 

It  is  doubtful  if  this  sudden  change  in  their 
treatment  of  him  was  especially  gratifying  to 
the  Bishop,  as  it  indicated  fickleness  and  lack 
of  depth  in  the  people  he  had  come  to  rule.  In 
deed  neither  he  nor  the  monks  had  been  in  any 
way  misled  by  this  demonstration  as  to  what 
was  likely  to  happen  in  the  future.  While  the 
peace  lasted  his  adherents  made  haste  to  send 
plenty  of  provisions  to  the  Bishop's  house,  lest 
he  be  starved  out  when  it  was  over. 

Las  Casas  was  now  about  to  go  to  Mexico,  to 
attend  a  meeting  of  all  the  bishops  in  the  New 
World,  who  were  to  confer  concerning  all  ques 
tions  concerning  the  Indians.  While  he  was 
making  his  preparations,  Juan  Rogel, — the  au 
ditor  appointed  by  the  council  at  Gracias  a 
Dio-s  to  see  to  the  enforcement  of  the  new  laws, 
—arrived.  He  listened  respectfully  to  all  the 
Bishop  had  to  say,  and  then  advised  him  to 
hasten  his  departure. 

"For,"  said  he,  "one  of  the  reasons  that 
has  made  these  laws  hateful  in  the  Indies,  is 
the  fact  that  you  have  had  a  hand  in  them." 

And  Rogel  went  on  to  explain  that  he  would 
be  able  to  act  with  much  more  freedom  in  his 
absence. 

Las  Casas  recognized  the  truth  of  this,  and 


EEVOLT  IN  CHIAPA  93 

made  all  baste  to  get  away.    He  left  his  dio 
cese  just  a  year  after  he  had  entered  it. 

Although  the  news  had  not  yet  reached  him, 
the  Emperor  had  been  obliged  practically  to  re 
voke  the  new  laws,  because  of  the  tumults  and 
rebellions  they  had  caused  in  his  American  pos 
sessions.  We  can  imagine  the  Bishop's  grief 
and  dismay  when  he  heard  of  this. 
COn  arriving  at  the  city  of  Mexico,  where  the 
episcopal  council  was  to  be  held,  there  was  such 
a  tumult  that  one  would  have  thought  a  hostile 
army  was  about  to  take  possession  of  the  place 
instead  of  one  poor  missionary  bishop  and  four 
humble  monks  approaching  the  walls  on  foot. 
The  authorities  were  obliged  to  write  and  ask 
Las  Casas  to  delay  his  entrance  a  little,  until 
they  could  quiet  popular  excitement. 

The  Bishop  at  length  came  into  the  city  about 
ten  o'clock  one  morning,  and  went  at  once  to 
the  Dominican  monastery. 

The  synod  or  council  that  Las  Casas  had 
come  to  attend  was  composed  of  five  or  six 
bishops  and  the  chief  theologians  and  learned 
men  of  the  colony.  Las  Casas  soon  became  its 
leading  spirit.  Some  very  bold  declarations 
were  made  in  favor  of  the  Indians,  but  the  ques 
tion  of  slavery  was  very  unwillingly  touched 
upon.  However,  the  Viceroy,  who  was  presi 
dent  of  the  meeting,  finally  appointed  a  special 
council  to  meet  and  discuss  this  matter.  The 
result  of  the  deliberations  of  both  bodies  on 


94  LAS  CASAS 

the  subject  was  that  all  Indian  slaves,  except 
a  few  renegade  rebels,  had  been  enslaved  un 
justly,  and  that  all  personal  service  imposed 
upon  those  that  were  not  slaves  was  unlawful. 

Of  course  these  conclusions  could  not  be 
forced  upon  the  country;  but  copies  of  them 
were  distributed  all  over  the  province,  in  the 
hope  that  they  might  have  an  effect  upon  the 
minds  of  men. 

Las  Casas  had  now  fully  decided  that  he  could 
do  more  for  the  Indians  in  Spain  than  in  his 
diocese,  especially  as  he  could  be  kept  constantly 
informed  by  the  Dominicans  as  to  what  was 
going  on.  He  therefore  appointed  a  Vicar-Gen 
eral  to  take  his  place,  and  sailed  from  Vera 
Cruz  in  1547,  leaving  the  shores  of  America 
for  the  last  time. 


CHAPTER  XII 

AT   COTJBT 

FATHER  Luis  CANCER  and  Father  Ladrada 
were  both  with  Las  Casas  in  Spain.  One  of  the 
first  things  Las  Casas  did,  with  the  approval  of 
the  Prince,  was  to  organize  a  missionary  ex 
pedition  to  Florida,  with  Father  Luis  Cancer  at 
the  head  of  it.  There  this  faithful  friend  and 
devoted  missionary  soon  after  met  his  death  at 
the  hands  of  the  Indians. 

While  in  Chiapa  the  Bishop  had  written  a 
little  book  of  instructions  to  his  clergy.  Formal 
objection  to  its  teachings  was  laid  before  the 
Council  of  the  Indies,  and  its  author  was  sum 
moned  to  come  before  that  body  and  explain 
himself.  This  he  did  to  their  entire  satisfaction, 
though  not  to  that  of  his  enemies,  who  en 
gaged  the  most  famous  theologian  and  lawyer 
in  Spain,  Juan  Gines  Sepulveda,  to  dispute  the 
position  of  Las  Casas  and  answer  his  argu 
ments.  Sepulveda  had  written  a  treatise  up 
holding  the  conquest  of  the  New  World  by  war. 
The  Council  of  the  Indies  would  not  allow  this 
book  to  be  published,  but  Las  Casas  had  asked 
them  to  allow  it  to  be  submitted  to  the  universi- 

95 


96  LAS  CASAS 

ties  of  Salamanca  and  Alcala  for  their  opinion. 
This  opinion  proved  to  be  against  it. 

Las  Casas  now  undertook  to  answer  Sepul- 
veda's  arguments  and  defend  the  freedom  of 
his  Indians.  The  war  of  words  waxed  fast 
and  furious,  and  the  controversy  attracted  so 
much  attention  that  the  Emperor  ordered  the 
India  Council  to  assemble  at  Valladolid,  to  de 
cide  whether  a  war  of  conquest  might  justly 
be  carried  on  against  the  Indians.  The  Em 
peror  himself  presided,  and  Las  Casas  and  Sep- 
ulveda  argued  the  question  before  them  all.  It 
appears  to  have  been  a  drawn  battle;  but  at 
length  the  Council  decided  in  favor  of  Sepul- 
veda.  The  Emperor  and  the  officials  of  the 
government,  however,  must  have  been  of  an 
other  opinion,  for  Sepulveda's  book  was  sup 
pressed.  At  the  time  of  this  controversy  Las 
Casas  was  seventy-six  years  old. 

Soon  after  this  Las  Casas  resigned  his  bish 
opric  and  the  Emperor  granted  him  a  pension. 
He  made  his  home  in  the  Dominican  college  of 
St.  Gregory,  at  Valladolid,  where  his  old  friend 
Father  Ladrada  was  with  him. 

And  now,  after  having  labored  for  the  In 
dians  for  so  many  years,  crossing  and  recross- 
ing  the  ocean,  traveling  over  hundreds  of  miles 
of  wild  country  on  foot,  like  St.  Paul,  "in  perils 
of  waters,  in  perils  of  robbers,  in  perils  by  his 
own  countrymen,  in  perils  by  the  heathen,  in 
perils  in  the  city,  in  perils  in  the  wilderness,  in 


AT  COUET  97 

perils  in  the  sea, ' '  lie  might  be  seen,  day  after 
day  and  night  after  night,  sitting  ai  his  desk, 
writing  letters,  memorials,  and  pamphlets  in 
defense  of  his  beloved  Indians.^  He  kept  up  a 
constant  correspondence  with  all  parts  of  the 
New  World,  and  when  he  heard  of  any  new  out 
rage  on  the  part  of  the  Spaniards  against  the 
natives,  he  at  once  brought  it  to  the  attention 
of  Prince  Philip,  now  regent  of  the  kingdom. 

At  the  end  of  the  year  1551  a  number  of 
Dominicans  and  Franciscans  having  been  in 
duced  through  his  appeals  to  go  out  to  the  In 
dies,  Las  Casas  went  to  Seville  to  see  them 
off.  For  some  reason  they  were  delayed  there 
for  ten  months,  and  during  that  time  he  was 
kept  busy  editing  a  number  of  his  works,  keep 
ing  two  printing-presses  going  all  the  time. 

Las  Casas  must  have  had  a  wonderful  con 
stitution.  His  hard  life  in  a  tropical  country 
had  neither  weakened  his  body  nor  impaired 
his  mind.  All  his  time  from  the  day  of  his  re 
turn  to  Spain  to  the  time  of  his  death  was  spent 
in  defense  of  the  Indians ;  and  through  his  un 
tiring  efforts  their  condition  was  much  im 
proved  in  Mexico  and  elsewhere. 

Laws  had  already  been  passed  which  allowed 
the  encomiendas,  as  the  grants  of  land  and  In 
dians  in  Spanish  America  were  called,  to  be 
held  in  a  family  only  during  two  lifetimes.  They 
then  reverted  to  the  crown.  Thus  the  Indians 
were  being  gradually  emancipated.  There  were 


98  LAS  CASAS 

also  officers  appointed  to  protect  the  interests  of 
the  crown  in  the  reversion,  so  that  it  was  no 
longer  possible  to  repeat  the  horrors  of  His- 
paniola. 

When  Las  Casas  heard  that  the  proposal  had 
been  made  to  allow  the  holders  of  encomiendas 
to  get  possession  of  them  in  perpetuity,  he  went 
at  once  to  the  King  and  succeeded  in  preventing 

it.    As  Fiske  says : 

v 

"It  is  worth  remembering  that  pretty  much 
the  only  praiseworthy  thing  Philip  ever  did 
was  done  under  Las  Casas'  influence." 

The  activity  of  Las  Casas  was  marvelous.  His 
longest  work  was  his  "History  of  the  Indies. " 
At  the  age  of  ninety  he  wrote  a  i  '  Memorial  on 
Peru, ' '  said  to  be  one  of  his  best,  and  two  years 
later,  in  1566,  he  went  to  Madrid  to  speak  in 
person  for  the  Indians  of  Guatemala.  He  had 
heard  through  the  Dominicans  that  that  prov 
ince  had  been  deprived  of  its  governing  body, 
so  that  the  Indians  had  no  chance  of  justice, 
having  to  go  to  Mexico  if  they  wished  to  make 
any  appeal.  He  was  successful  in  this  mission, 
and  the  Audiencia  was  restored  to  Guatemala. 

This  was  the  last  work  of  Las  Casas.  In  July 
of  that  year,  while  still  in  Madrid,  he  was  taken 
ill  and  died  after  a  short  illness,  at  the  age  of 
ninety- two. 

As  he  lay  dying,  his  brethren,  the  Domini 
cans,  kneeling  about  the  bed  and  reciting  the 


AT 


prayers  for  the  dying,  he  begged  them  to  per 
severe  in  their  defense  of  the  Indians,  and  asked 
them  to  join  him  in  prayer  that  he  might  be 
forgiven  any  remissness  on  his  part  in  the  ful 
fillment  of  his  mission.  He  was  beginning  to 
tell  them  how  he  came  to  enter  upon  this  work 
when  his  spirit  departed. 

Thousands  of  people  attended  the  funeral  of 
Las  Casas.  He  was  buried  in  Madrid,  in  the 
convent  chapel  of  "Our  Lady  of  Atocha." 

In  early  American  history  there  is  no  one  who 
stands  on  a  level  with  this  remarkable  man. 
Many  bitter  enemies  he  had,  it  is  true;  such  a 
man,  —  fearless,  outspoken,  able,  never  to  be 
silenced  when  he  was  convinced  of  the 
righteousness  of  his  cause,  —  was  bound  to  have. 
Never  during  the  many  years  of  his  long  life, 
did  the  Indians  lack  a  friend  to  plead  in  their 
behalf.  Amid  the  cupidity,  cruelty,  and  injus 
tice  of  the  Spaniards  in  the  New  World  his 
character  shines  like  a  star  in  the  darkness  of 
night.  We  can't  do  better  in  closing  than  to 
quote  the  words  in  which  Fiske  speaks  of  him: 

"In  contemplating  such  a  life  as  that  of  Las 
Casas,  all  words  of  eulogy  seem  weak  and  frivo 
lous.  The  historian  can  only  bow  in  reverent  awe 
before  a  figure  which  is,  in  some  respects,  the 
most  beautiful  and  sublime  in  the  annals  of 
Christianity  since  the  Apostolic  age.  When 
now  and  then  in  the  course  of  the  centuries 


100  I/AS  CASAS 

God's  providence  brings  such  a  life  into  the 
world,  the  memory  of  it  must  be  cherished  by 
mankind  as  one  of  its  most  precious  and  sacred 
possessions. -  For  the  thoughts,  the  words,  the 
deeds,  of  such  a  man  there  is  no  death.  The 
sphere  of  their  influence  goes  on  widening  for 
ever.  They  bud,  they  blossom,  they  bear  fruit, 
from  age  to  age." 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


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